The Island may be a fairly new event at Henley but already the level of competition matches that of the Temple and the quality of crews this year is incredibly high. With a strong headwind and some bumpy conditions on the course the competition kicked off with some great racing by Edinburgh University ‘A’ and the University of Washington, USA
Reviews
Edinburgh University ‘A’ VS University of Washington, USA
Edinburgh University continues to be one of the top University programs in the country, and their women’s squad have been particularly impressive this year, being one of the only clubs to qualify two eights into this event. However, the crew from Washington did not come all the way over to Henley to be knocked out on a Wednesday and pushed hard off the start to take a narrow lead. Edinburgh stuck with them throughout, never letting Washington rest up. While Edinburgh attacked, again and again, Washington was able to hold the lead all the way but it certainly won’t have been a comfortable win to start their campaign.
Edinburgh University ‘B’ VS Sydney University, AUS
With the A crew having been knocked out it was now up to the B crew to keep the fight alive for the Edinburgh women’s squad. Their competition would be fierce though with Sydney University being a women’s program renowned for reliably producing talented athletes for the Australian national squad. A strong start by Sydney seemed to confirm most people’s predictions for this race with Sydney quickly pulling out almost a three-quarter length lead. Edinburgh B though were able to almost completely turn the tables on Sydney past the barrier taking a half length lead and completely turning the race on it head. Although Sydney attacked through the Remenham the Edinburgh crew dug deep and started to consolidate their lead. Fighting all the way to the line the Edinburgh crew came out on top for a well-deserved victory.
Preview
University of British Columbia vs Yale
with University of British Columbia pulling out the win over Princeton they now face another powerhouse from the USA. Yale will likely be a stronger competitor then Princeton and so we can expect a very close race here. With UBC though clearly on form this race is one I really cant call.
Edinburgh University B vs California Berkeley
After wining against Sydney the question is can Edinburgh B take down another powerful foreign crew. after all who doesn’t love a David and goliath story. I expect though California Berkeley will be looking to quickly dispatch with the Edinburgh Crew. I still hold out for another upset though.
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