The most exciting summer racing is here and after an incredible National Schools Regatta 3 weeks ago, Henley Women’s is really looking to be an intense weekend of racing. There are 23 quad’s entered including one from the USA, the fastest 16 qualify. Henley Women’s is the race before Henley Royal the crews racing on Sunday will be looking to perform their best in order to get a secure ranking leading up to qualifers next Thursday. When racing on the Henley course technique and strength have to be perfect to be in with the chance of being a top crew. I will cover some of the crews i believe will be making it to Sunday’s semi finals and finals.
Shiplake Vikings- A crew who have been consistently throughout this rowing year in the top 4 junior women’s quads. Shiplake most recently won Met Regatta and they achieved bronze at National Schools Regatta 4 seconds behind gold and sliver. They will be looking to close this 4 second gap as much as possible this weekend.
Warrington – The victorious quad at Nat Schools , winning both semi finals and the final. Lucy Glover and her crew will have their eyes on keeping up their success with a win this weekend. They proved through time trail, semi and final of Nat schools they are a resilient and strong crew.
Glasgow Schools – Glasgow have performed very well over the past months and after securing 2nd place to Warrington at Nat Schools by only by point seven of a second they will be looking to take a win over them this weekend. Im sure racing will be very exciting as Warrington and Glasgow progress over the weekend and I’m excited to see who wins.
Baltimore USA- Baltimore are apart of the Reach High Programme and have brought 8 girls over from the States to race at Henley women’s. I couldn’t find much about the results these girls have achieved this year but it will be interesting to see how they do in comparison to the top girls crews of our country.
Nottingham- Nottingham succeeded to the A final of National Schools a large move up from 11th place at Schools Head. Lucy Holgate is competing in a single if Nottingham have strong depth to their squad they will will be a crew to watch out for this weekend.
Henley – Henley have most recently been competing in sweep events, achieving 5th place in championship eights and second in coxless fours at Nat schools. Henley have skill to be versatile in their technique being able to shift from sweep to sculling. If this is their top quad Henley will be aiming to keep up with the likes of Shiplake and Glasgow.
Latymer- Latymer have also entered junior women’s eights this weekend, so this crew may not be their fastest girls. If it is however they have been moving up the rankings of junior women’s quads this year and will be looking to gain a position in the top 8 this weekend.
Marlow & Thames & St Pauls – 3 other crews worth noting who will be looking for a top 8 placement this weekend. Marlow and Thames raced junior women’s quads at Met Regatta last weekend Thames placed 3rd and Marlow 4th. It will be interesting to see how these crews progress this weekend. St Paul’s are a strong club though they haven’t made an appearance in junior women’s quads they could potentially be a new name in the mix in these last few races of the season.
All the best to all crews racing !
Bowball
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