In what promises to be one of the quickest races of the day, the Junior 16 Championship Eight category never fails to disappoint, with the previous two winners not really considered favourites prior to the event. Indeed, our predictions have served to stoke the fire in the past so we’re hoping that we can help to stimulate an outstanding race this weekend. One of the last times that these crews will race together as just one year group, they will want to end it on a high. Forget the exams this weekend, it’s race time.
St Paul’s School
2nd at Schools’ Head, and one of the favourites for the event, St Paul’s with Scullers Head winner Dom Valt in the stroke seat will be going for gold. Also a crew to race both fours and an eight at Wallingford, St Paul’s still managed a 6:30 in the eights final, after three other races that day. They come with pedigree and form in this event, backed by an excellent program and a sound understanding of what it takes to win. As ever, their name is floated around the gold medal mark – they’ve got a lot of very fast crews to beat but it’ll be interesting to see what they can produce.
Abingdon School
Late to the party, but right on cue for the apex, we find Abingdon. Winners at Wallingford and in with the top end of the mix at Schools’ Head, this crew have gone from strength to strength recently and I wouldn’t be surprised if they manage to pull off the win on Saturday. They’ve been under the stewardship of Rory Copus this year, a former Abingdonian and winner of the Temple Challenge Cup in 2014, and have improved steadily throughout the season. This would be another important stepping stone in re-establishing Abingdon as a market-leading force in junior rowing – their first eight have had a pretty good season so far too and it’d be great to see them back in the running for major titles.
Westminster School
A win in this event means that Westminster would take home both Schools’ Head and National Schools’ titles – a remarkable achievement if they can pull it off. With a 3rd place finish at Wallingford in a very close field, Westminster could turn that result around – you never know how much speed a crew can gain in two weeks before a major event. One thing to note is that the Westminster win in March was on home water and stayed true to the typical form book – the boys from Putney are often stronger in the winter months, with the benefit of daily training on a much longer stretch of river than most of their opponents. Although Westminster have often produced crews which manage to maintain form throughout the season, they’ll be looking to buck the trend and pull a result out of the bag.
Shiplake College
A bronze medal at the Schools’ Head in March reflects well on this crew, who often get faster as the season progresses. They opted not to race at Wallingford, instead choosing to focus on finding speed in the final few weeks before the National Schools’ Regatta. For most J16’s, this weekend’s regatta represents the pinnacle of the season – many aren’t fortunate enough to race at Henley and even if they do, it is often a formative experience for seasons to come. The ascension of Shiplake from Child Beale challenger to established championship program has been one of the stories of the past few seasons, and I’ve got a good feeling about the development of these athletes. I think they’ll be strong on Saturday.
Radley College
Another crew who appear to have found speed after a seventh-placed showing at the Schools’ Head, Radley will be looking to feature on the podium on Saturday. Whether or not they can achieve that is another matter – they finished second at Wallingford in an extremely competitive field and this will have helped to build collective confidence ahead of what promises to be an outstanding set of races. With the reintroduction of Shiplake, alongside the likely strengthening of St Paul’s and Westminster, the Oxfordshire-based boys will be hard pushed to retain that silver medal position – but write off a Radley crew at your peril.
Royal Shrewsbury School
If Wallingford was a fair reflection of crew speed, then Shrewsbury have stepped on considerably since finishing eleventh at the Schools’ Head in March. They made the ‘A’ final at Wallingford, finishing fourth in an excellent field but crucially beating a slightly lacklustre St Paul’s crew. I’ll be very interested to see whether these boys can secure a top six berth on Saturday and perhaps push on for a medal. That would be a phenomenal achievement.
King’s College School
With the recent help of Olympic Champion Moe Sbihi in the coaching launch, KCS have climbed the ranks in the J16 scene over the past few years and are now capable of challenging for a medal. This crew was one of a few schools who elected to race both fours in the morning and an eight in the afternoon at Wallingford Regatta. Although their eight did not qualify for the final, I imagine they will improve on that with a fresher crew. They’re generally quite strong at J16 level, but tend to tail off a little at the sharp end of the junior rowing circuit – the last really strong KCS senior crew was several years ago. Can they iron out this deficiency in future years, with a strong cohort of J16s? Only time will tell.
Despite coming last at Schools’ Head, Eton College should never be underestimated going into the regatta season. Last year’s crew finished down the order at Schools’ Head as well and went on to win at the National Schools’ Regatta. It would be an impressive achievement for the current crop to do the same but with the advantage of home water, Eton could very easily win a medal on Saturday.
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