So, here we are. After a long wait, a tumultuous past 18 months, disrupted lives and training plans- Henley Royal Regatta is making its comeback. Once again, we will see crews storm down the most iconic stretch of river there is, we will see spectators along the river bank and hopefully, although I don’t want to jinx it, some good weather. This year, the hotly anticipated Diamond Jubilee event needs a qualification regatta to narrow down the numbers. For some, this will be where their Henley dream ends- at Eton Dorney this Saturday. Here are some of the crews to watch, and out of the 14 racing, only seven will get through.
Headington School:
Without sounding like a broken record, you can never write off a Headington crew when you see them on the draw. The event they will be focussing their energies on is the new girls junior eight event, but even so, they have an excellent sculling reputation, so they will be one to look out for.
Wycliffe:
Not dwelling on it too much, but it was a Wycliffe crew that had the unfortunate accident in the early round of the quad category at Henley Women’s, ending their chances of getting to the final, which they very well might have reached as their ‘A’ crew were the fastest qualifiers in the time trials. Both of their crews looked good, so it was a shame not seeing what they could do. This time around, they have another opportunity to show the strength they have. Wycliffe has already pre-qualified their ‘A’ crew and have generally improved a lot and now have seriously competitive boats; as demonstrated by the fact they had a boat place fifth overall in the quads at National Schools’ Regatta, before their top crew roared to a silver medal at Brit Champs. I’m sure that the girls in this second crew will put up a strong fight for one of those qualifying spots.
Peterborough:
One of the stand-out crews from Henley Women’s was the Peterborough double, and Drake-Lee and Bolton ended their weekend with one of the most decisive wins of the whole competition. This speaks volumes about the prowess of their scullers, and if the rumours are to be believed, either one or both of the girls from that boat are in this one – this will make this quad very quick. Unsurprisingly, the double also won at National Schools by another massive margin, 10 seconds to be precise. If the rest of the squad has this kind of speed and talent, they will be very competitive.
Trentham:
A club with a mixed bag of results from this season is potentially a strong crew, and if they have a good day, they could be dangerous. At Henley Women’s, a Trentham double managed to get into the semi-finals, being beaten by the eventual winners from Peterborough. Then at National Schools’, their quad made it into the B final, and their four made it into the A final. If they are pulling from this skilled group of girls, this boat has a good shot at making that top 7.
Glasgow Academy:
Making the trip down once more to Henley is Glasgow Academy; they also had an excellent regatta at Henley Women’s this year, with the junior four winning the category and the composite J16 quad also performing well. This time, it is just a Glasgow Academy boat, and they are sculling; if they can translate their sweeping success into rowing success, then this has the potential to be a speedy boat.
Conclusions:
It is worth mentioning the amount of ‘B’ boats that will be taking to the water on Saturday: Northwich, Shiplake, Tideway and the aforementioned Wycliffe crew are all registered as ‘B’. Although, as always, it is hard to tell how fast these boats will be – can they be judged on how quickly we expect their ‘A’ crews to race? The stellar performance from Shiplake at Henley Women’s, with their crew winning the quads, makes this ‘B’ crew also feel like one to watch – the same goes for the Wycliffe crews.
To conclude, I hope this weekend will give us some close and exciting racing, with those top 7 spots being so up for grabs. I think the Wycliffe boat is in with a good chance, along with the Peterborough crew. If the Glasgow Academy girls can scull as well as they can sweep, they could also be in contention. There is one thing for certain, however, if by the time Saturday comes around you aren’t excited about Henley Royal yet, after seeing these races, you definitely will be.
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