Unlike most of the events at this regatta, the J16 quad is an event at NSR. At NSR 2017, gold was hotly contested for by Globe RC and Henley RC, but a reduction in personnel at Globe has removed them from the mix. However, this event shouldn’t be a two horse race. SHORR and Junior Sculling Head give some good forecasts regarding standings, but training camps over Easter provide the time and focus needed for crews to fully develop. 22 days before NSR, this will be a dress rehearsal for the crews. Thus, we’ll see how they stack up when under the pressure of side by side racing.
Henley RC
These boys already have a victory from School’s Head under their belt, which sets a good tone for the rest of the season. This doesn’t leave them unchallengeable, as TSS only missed out by a second. Over the championship course, a second is easy to lose or gain. When it comes to regatta-style racing, a gap this small can cease to exist. On the other hand, the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta showed this gap has increased to 4 seconds over 1500m. Still, there’s nothing like the first 15 strokes off the blocks to rattle your opponents. Henley possess skilled scullers, Euan Turnell and Grant Taylor already have their first GB vests (from the Anglo-France match), so a quad of this standard will be exciting to watch. We’ll see if anyone can give them a run for their money.
Tideway Scullers
Brutally pipped by Henley at School’s Head, this crew will be looking to assert some dominance, preferably by winning this category. A strong 2nd placing at JIRR points to a crew ready for regatta racing, but it will take some work to bridge the 5~ second gap (extrapolating from JIRR results) between them and Henley. In the run-up to NSR, this weekend may double as a testing ground, the results of which will determine how they race. TSS aren’t underdogs here, but it’s human nature to want rational predictions overturned. Some say coming second just makes you the fastest loser. The more times you come second, the more tantalising the prospect of gold feels. These boys have got nothing to lose and will have to race like it to upset the status quo.
Star and Arrow RC
Local rivals to Henley, these crews aren’t strangers to each other. They may consider their finishes at SHORR (28 seconds behind Henley), and a loss to Henley’s second quad at the Junior Sculling Head disappointing, but the individual standard of sculling isn’t too far behind. Back when the focus was on small boats, Willis took home the trophy at Henley Long Distance Sculls by a convincing margin. The runner-up, Sharp was also from Star and Arrow, pointing to good things within the crew. Admittedly, some of Henley’s scullers had already raced in a quad. This still suggests Star and Arrow still need time to find the magic. Once they do, we might see them finding their way to the podium.
Walton RC
Walton are known for their smaller boats, so it is a small surprise to see a quad entered. One of the crews to race at the Junior Sculling Head, but not SHORR, they finished joint second with Henley, losing only to a quad from Claire’s Court. Walton don’t have a shortage of J16s either: only half of this silver-winning quad raced at SHORR the day before, in a coxed four. I can’t say who specifically will be competing this weekend, but it will be interesting to see which discipline will be considered their top boat. Winning J16 4+ at JIRR clearly wasn’t enough for them. Decisions will have been made over Easter, and this quad should be Walton’s J16s at their finest. I’m curious to see how they perform.
South African School’s Rowing Association
It wouldn’t be a J16 preview for a race at this time if these rowers weren’t featured. 41 J16s from various South African schools have been invited for a Development Tour in May. These athletes are South Africa’s top J16s who have met the two main eligibility criteria. One is winning the National Championships, which is probably a bigger hurdle than the 7:30 2k they must supply. Their top quad (out of the two entered) will be the boys from Jeppe High School, Johannesburg. Their side by side racing season is well underway, so the new environment could be a bigger distraction than their opponents. This is countered, however, by their base of operations being Dorney Lake. To some extent, they may deal with the environment better than some domestic crews. At their National Championships, they posted a time of 6:49.3 over 2,000m. Without any reference to conditions, it’s hard to gauge if they’ve got speed. The conditions were certainly not record-breaking, so it seems this crew is around the standard of previous SASRU crews. With that as my scale, I don’t see them cracking the top spots. Given they’re also entering Wallingford, I think this race serves more as an experience than a chance obtain silverware.
There are plenty of crews entered, all of which are ready to go out the blocks guns blazing. Many crews are from clubs unattached to a school, which makes me wonder if club rowers will outnumber school rowers at all levels including the national team. A lot of the crews entered posses another quad or crew below them, and competitive crews are formed from this depth. Henley are coming in looking like the favourites, but a win is far from guaranteed. Plenty of races are decided in the first 750m. Losing your nerve between the start and that point can cost any crew the race. An exciting weekend is ahead.
Good luck to all crews.
3Speed
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