This year, this category is truly international with 6 out of the 10 crews entered hailing from the USA. Without any clear comparisons between the native and American crews, it will be interesting to see how the rowing of the two countries compare in person. Even from the UK, the crews have rarely raced at the same event meaning that much of the race on Saturday will be a suprise for us. Given that this is Henley, we can guarantee racing to a very high level but the outcomes are far less set in stone.
Headington School
The Headington crew entered appears to be composed of members of their B crew from NSR for the Championship 8+ and their crew from the WJ16 8+. As it is not the crew they have most recently raced in, it will be interesting to see how they transfer from the 2 boats into 1. Throughout the year, the top Headington eight has always just fallen short of the win with Henley winning the penant at School’s Head. This can once again be seen when the A crew finished 2nd overall in the Championship 8s category at NSR. The B crew won the B final which proves that they too are very capable while the WJ16 8+ placed 3rd in their much smaller category. I think we could see a very promising performance from this crew.
Mt. Saint Joseph (USA)
This club seem to have had a very successful couple of weeks. Their Lightweight 8+ (which is entered as their B crew) gained 1st place in their category at the SRAA Nationals (Scholastic Rowing Association of America National Championships Regatta) making them National Champions. Their other crew (the A crew) gained a silver medal at these championships. This puts them in a very promising position going into Henley and I expect we will see at least one of their boats making the top 3.
St Georges College
This crew was not entered as an eight at NSR and instead is composed of their WJ16 4+ and Championship 4+ crews. As with any recently altered crews, it will be interesting to see how the crew slots together and if they will row as one when we see them racing on Saturday. At NSR, we saw the WJ16 4+ and WJ4+ place 3rd in the B Final and 1st in the C Final respectively. I imagine that seeing them in the top spots may be a slight push however we can expect a solid performance.
Phillips Academy (USA)
At the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association Regatta a fortnight ago, this crew placed 2nd proving to be very competent. While we don’t know what this necessarily means in terms of their place amongst other crews, we know that they will be confident in their performance due to their decision to travel to Henley in order to compete so once again, a good performance will be expected.
Bedford Girls School
At NSR, this crew placed 3rd in the B final after putting in a strong performance although I imagine they had hoped for better. At SHORR, Bedford placed 5th in the 1st 8+ category. Over the shorter distance, this crew won at Bedford regatta. It appears that this crew has lots of experience and so I am excited to see how they compare to their opponents.
Green Lake (USA)
At the National Youth Championships last weekend, the A crew raced and placed 5th in the W Youth 8+ category while their other crew appears to be a bit less experienced. I imagine that they will put in a good race and we will definitely see them in the top half of the race.
Other crews entered are: Emanuel School who do not appear to be very experienced in sweep boats and National Cathedral School (USA) who have little proof available of what they are capable of.
This will be a competitive category but my predictions for this race is: Headington, Mount Saint Joseph A (USA) and Phillips Academy (USA) however not necessarily in this order!
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