With a record number of entries, over 2000 to be exact, this years Henley Women’s look set to be one for the history books. All crews in this championship category will still have to take part in the time trial in order to be seeded. The great thing about HWR is that we get to see club crews and universities line up against each other to see who will come out on top.
Bath University BC & Dart Totnes RC
The first of two composite crews that will be mentioned here, this crew is coming off the back of a successful weekend at Met Regatta. They placed second to another Bath University composite crew, which places them in good stead coming into this race. Bath have had a good sculling season, with their Women’s Intermediate Quad placing fourth at BUCS and more specifically, Phoebe Hayden got silver in the Women’s Intermediate Single category. She will be looking to turn this silver into a trophy at HWR, I’m sure, especially as she is backed up by Laura Macro who is a previous winner at HWR in the Championship Lightweight Single and the Aspirational Double.
Twickenham RC & Leander Club
The other composite here, and another one who have had good results this season, Vwaire Obukohwo raced for Royal Holloway at BUCS and came home with the gold medal in the Women’s Championship Single by a narrow margin, Imogen Grant came third in that race. Last year at HWR Obukohwo won the Aspirational Single here by over 20 seconds and it is clear, based on this season’s results, that she has only gone from strength to strength. She was part of the composite crew that won at Met Regatta this weekend, for example. Her doubles partner, hailing from Leander will no doubt be an equally as strong sculler, making this double one to watch.
Leander Club ‘A’
Undoubtedly there is the added pressure for the scullers from Leander, as not only are they on their home stretch but they are racing for such a prestigious club. Both Magner and Mole have been part of successful quads this season, with wins at Wallingford Regatta and more recently on the continent at Ghent International Regatta. It is clear they row well together in a quad, there is no reason as to why this skill and strength should not translate into a smaller boat this weekend.
Prediction
These championship events are always interesting and give us the chance to see the pinnacle of women’s sculling. I think that the Twickenham/Leander double will be hard to beat and I suspect that it will be another Leander crew that comes close. Having said that, not only are there strong entries from Oxford Brookes, but the crews from Tideway Scullers and Marlow should not be overlooked.
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