With fifteen entries but only 12 spaces available for qualification, The Cathy Cruickshank Trophy is set to provide an exciting series of races in this years Henley Women’s Regatta. Crews from all over the UK alongside crews from Ireland, the United States and the Netherlands, will go head-to-head down the famous course in order to see who will come out on top.
Oxford University Boat Club
Following their success at Metropolitan Regatta, it comes with no surprise that Oxford University are strong contenders for this trophy. On the Saturday of Metropolitan Regatta, Oxford placed last in the A final, however, this placement gained them the title of fastest academic crew down the course on Saturday. With this strong performance in mind, it is likely that they will demonstrate serious speed across the time trials, progressing further through the competition and potentially into the final.
University of London Boat Club
Throughout the course of this season, University of London Boat Club have been formidable opponents, placing highly or winning the majority of events across the multitude of divisions that they have been entered into. With such a strong legacy of success, it is likely that we will see their dominance translate into this division. The particular crew entered in this race raced together at Metropolitan Regatta and earned a spot in the B final, where they finished as the third fastest academic crew on the Saturday of racing.
Cambridge University
Whilst Cambridge University placed 6th in the B final at Metropolitan on the Saturday of racing, earning them the title of fourth fastest academic coxless four down the course, the evident skill in the boat makes them serious contenders. Riddell-Webster was a core member of Blondie in the 2021 Boat Race whilst teammate Graf won the B finals in the British Colombia Championships. With such a high calibre of rower within the boat, it would be surprising for this crew not to feature near the top of the results table in the time trial, proceeding through the next round of racing.
K S R V Njord
It would be foolish to disregard the crews from Njord for this category, particularly with two boats entered within this one trophy. After winning the women’s 4- category in ZRB (Zuidelijke Roeibond) competition earlier in May of this year, it will be interesting to see how the Njord A boat fairs against the other entries and how far they will proceed in the competition.
Predictions
I believe that it’s likely that all the aforementioned crews will likely feature in the top of the results table for the time trials and will progress to the latter stages of this competition. However, the information about some of the entries is sparse, so it would be remiss to assume that there will be no surprise performances from the likes of Oxford Brookes or Newcastle University Boat Club.
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