There are 20 crews entered in the doubles event at the Junior Sculling Regatta taking place this Monday. This fierce competition means that it will be challenging enough to get into the A final alone, never mind getting into the medal positions. However since it is now lane racing, this competitiveness will force everyone racing to step up their game in order to not be left behind. There are plenty of fast doubles entered and it will be interesting to see their speed at this point in the season.
Marlow RC has a very strong group of girls this year, so whoever is in this double should be in good contention for at least getting into the A final. Last year they performed very well but did not quite manage to reach those gold medal positions in quite a few different boat classes. They were successful in their head season, in sculling events specifically, coming second in the very competitive girls junior 4x- at Schools head earlier this year. The Marlow girls clearly are coming into this season in good form and I’m sure this double will be wanting to start collecting golds instead of silvers.
A double from Tideway Scullers School is always one to watch, due to the groups consistency in churning out strong athletes who can move boats well. They started off their year well coming fourth at Schools Head, only 15 seconds behind the winner, which for a head race is a small margin. Tideway scullers has produced some stand out athletes this year who have been doing well in the u19 trials process for both sculling and sweeping. If this double is one of the clubs faster crews it will definitely have a good shot of medaling.
Shiplake College had an amazing regatta season in 2021 with a seemingly unbeatable coxless quad. The stand out results being winning Henley Royal and National Schools Regatta. Moving into 2022, they proved they could be just as competitive over a longer distance winning schools head by almost 10 seconds. There are 3 of the girls from Shiplake doing well at trials too showing the strength of their athletes individually. We know that they are very technically proficient in a small boats, but the success in the quad shows us that they have a lot of power to put in the water. Therefore, I do believe that any combination of Shiplake girls in a double should medal.
Other crews to watch are the doubles from Molesey BC – they came 3rd in the quad at Schools Head -and Wycliffe College. This year the Wycliffe athletes have performed very well in multiple different head races and GB trials, so will definitely be looking to medal at this regatta.
It is difficult to know which athletes exactly are in each double, however some programs are so strong that it is still possible to make a prediction. In my opinion, it will either be the double from Shiplake or Wycliffe who will take the victory, however since a double only needs two good rowers, it wouldn’t surprise me if a smaller club popped up and challenged those top spots.
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