Wednesday Racing:
The King’s School, Worcester vs Bedford School
The first race of the PE at this year’s regatta perhaps lacked the excitement we might have hoped for, with Bedford dominating throughout. Their start saw them gain clear-water by the end of Temple Island, and with Bedford showing clear technical superiority, they extended their lead to two lengths by the quarter-mile mark, and four lengths by the Barrier, holding King’s Worcester at that distance for the rest of the course. With Bedford rating 22 by Remenham, there was no doubt of the result, with an eventual verdict of ‘easily’ seeing them safely through onto the Thursday.
Monmouth School vs The King’s School, Chester
A more exciting race than we perhaps might have predicted, Monmouth and King’s Chester were neck and neck during the early part of the race, with Monmouth holding onto a narrow lead of only a canvas at the end of Temple Island and at the quarter-mile mark. By the Barrier, with both crews settled onto race pace, Monmouth began to slowly extend their lead, leading by a length at Fawley, a length and a half at Remenham, before eventually crossing the line a comfortable 2 ¼ lengths clear of King’s Chester.
Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School vs Bedford Modern School
Both of the Bedford schools are now safely through to the Henley Thursday, with Bedford Modern taking a 2 ¼ length victory over Borlase – a school which is usually better known for its sculling. Although both crews went out of the blocks hard, Bedford held onto a slender 1/3 length lead by the end of the Island, extending this out the whole of the way down the course to a length and a half by Fawley, and 2 ¼ lengths by the finish. For a school that usually gets knocked out on the Wednesday, Bedford Modern will be delighted to progress in the PE – however, they’ll be in for a tough race tomorrow.
Reading Blue Coat School vs Pangbourne College
This was always going to be an exciting match-up, with an unusually strong Reading Blue Coat having beaten Pangbourne at NSR by only a few places in the B-Final. Reading Blue Coat had an extremely strong start, gaining a one-length advantage by the quarter-mile, and opening that up to nearly 2 ½ lengths by Fawley. After a push by Pangbourne before the ¾ mile mark, the Blue Coats were brought back very slightly, before they reasserted their dominance to finish with a 3 1/2 length advantage.
Dulwich College vs St. George’s College
St George’s had an unusually strong eight this year, and their race against Dulwich was one of the best PE races of the day, with neither crew ever gaining clear water. At the Barrier, Dulwich had only managed to gain ¾ length on St. George’s, who fought back valiantly to get within a 1/4 of a length at the mile marker, before Dulwich reasserted control over the race to finish a length clear and progress to the Thursday.
Radley College vs Shiplake College
With Shiplake surprisingly not seeded this year, this race was always going to be the race of the day in the PE, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Both crews were level through the Barrier, with Shiplake only beginning to edge ahead at the half-mile marker, leading by only a canvas at the Fawley. This slender lead was only extended marginally further down the course, with Shiplake gaining a ½ length lead at the mile marker, before eventually crossing the line ¾ length in front of Radley.
Mossbourne Community Academy vs Hampton School
With Mossbourne Community Academy making their first-ever appearance at Henley, it was somewhat unsurprising that Hampton took an easy victory. Dominating straight off the blocks, they took a length lead by the end of Temple Island, extending that to two lengths by the Barrier, three by Fawley, and nearly five by Remenham, taking the line-honours with a verdict of ‘easily’. Credits must be given, however, to Mossbourne, who faced a strong and long-established opponent on their first foray onto Henley’s hallowed ground.
Durham School vs Norwich School
As a crew that last competed in the PE in 2013, we didn’t expect an awful lot from Durham School, and unsurprisingly Norwich gripped this race from the start. By the end of the Island Norwich had opened up a ¾ length lead, increasing to 3 ¾ lengths by the Barrier, and nearly 5 lengths by Fawley. The race was open and shut by this point, with Norwich simply relaxing into their rhythm and crossing the line with an ‘easily’ verdict.
Thursday Preview:
Bedford School vs Abingdon School
This could be one of the more exciting PE match-ups of the Henley Thursday, with both crews having performed similarly throughout the season. At NSR Abingdon beat Bedford convincingly, with Bedford’s time-trial placing them into the B-Final and Abingdon 4th in the A-Final. Yet at Marlow only a few weeks later, the tables were turned, with Bedford 4th and Abingdon 6th. Although Abingdon may have had a bye to the Thursday, Bedford’s Wednesday match-up was little more than a warm-up, so both crews will be coming in relatively fresh, and it could make for a tight finish.
Monmouth School vs St. Edward’s School
Although I expect Monmouth to come out of the blocks fighting hard, St Edward’s should win this pairing reasonably comfortably, with the boys from Monmouth struggling to maintain their impressive strength of recent years. Although it’s certainly not going to be a walkover, Monmouth had to exert more effort than they might have hoped to dispatch King’s Chester on the Wednesday, so the fresh St Edward’s crew shouldn’t have too much trouble in progressing to the Friday.
Bedford Modern School vs King’s College School, Wimbledon
After such a successful season, including a silver at National Schools’, KCS Wimbledon will be aiming for the weekend at Henley this year. Bedford Modern shouldn’t provide too much of an obstacle for the KCS crew, particularly as whilst KCS have reached the Thursday with a bye, Bedford Modern couldn’t ever really let up in their race against Borlase this morning – with fatigue, therefore, playing a part. I would expect to see a relatively comfortable KCS victory.
Reading Blue Coat School vs Eton College
Although Reading Blue Coat had a very lucky draw, with their 3 ½ length victory over Pangbourne taking them to the Thursday for only the second time in their history, that is likely to come crashing down tomorrow, as they face an extremely strong Eton crew. Short of catastrophic equipment failure, Eton should walk this race easily.
St. Paul’s School vs Dulwich College
Dulwich saw off a tough challenge from St. George’s today and will face a far tougher challenger on the Thursday. With St Paul’s fresh off a Brit Champs victory, and keen to better their National Schools’ result, the crew from Dulwich shouldn’t provide too much of an obstacle to their progression to the Friday, and to a potentially much more difficult race against either St. Joseph’s or Shiplake.
St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, U.S.A vs Shiplake College
This should provide the spectators a fantastic race, with Shiplake having narrowly seen off Radley this afternoon, and now facing a crew who are arguably the favourites for this event. Although I expect Shiplake to go out of the blocks as hard as possible, St. Joseph’s strong record would suggest that they will quickly take control and dominate the race. As well as progressing to the Friday, St. Joseph’s will also be looking to assert their impressive credentials to the PE crews that they may face later in the week.
Shrewsbury School vs Hampton School
Despite Hampton having had an easy route to the Henley Thursday, their journey should come to an abrupt end at the hands of Shrewsbury, who have consistently outperformed Hampton this season at every event. With Shrewsbury having performed better than initially expected this year and performing relatively well at NSR, Hampton’s NSR C-Final crew shouldn’t provide too much resistance to a dominant Shrewsbury victory.
Westminster School vs Norwich School
Like Hampton, Norwich had a relatively easy race on Wednesday, winning with a clear ‘easily’ verdict. However, when up against such an established opponent as Westminster, it seems likely that they’ll struggle to compete, particularly as Westminster has had a relatively successful season so far. Therefore, I’m predicting a dominant Westminster win.
MarginalGainz
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