Though the weather hasn’t entirely followed suit, the beginning of summer marks the start of regatta season, where the hours of dark evening training over winter becomes fruitful. The Junior Sculling Regatta offers the first major opportunity for these junior crews to face off in the side-by-side regatta setting this year. The women’s junior doubles event is a relatively small entry of sixteen crews, and with the majority of recent events being in larger boats, it’s all to play for.
Wycliffe College Boat Club
Starting off the draw, Wycliffe have consistently shown themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Their strength in sculling is particularly evident: they won in the quads at the School’s Head of the River Race by an astonishing 37 seconds, which was upheld at this race’s sister event, the Junior Sculling Head, where their ‘A’ crew won by 30 seconds once again and their ‘B’ crew placed sixth in a pool of 41. Though this event will test them in the doubles, and over a shorter distance, their strength in smaller boats was recently demonstrated by their success at the GB U19 Regatta. Making use of the smaller pool of entrants, they will likely excel.
Tideway Scullers School
Tideway Scullers similarly had success at School’s Head, taking bronze in the quads hot on the heels of Marlow. However, they came in 45 seconds behind fellow competitor Wycliffe, and had little success overall at JSH where they placed in the bottom quarter in the junior women’s quads and eighth in the WJ17 equivalent. However, they are not to be underestimated coming off the back of their recent training camp (where some competed at the Ghent International Spring Regatta) and are most likely putting their best foot forward to start the regatta season.
Molesey Boat Club
One of the relatively few clubs to put forward an A and a B boat in this event, Molesey are perhaps showing their confidence in the double. They placed fourth in the quads at School’s Head, albeit a firm twelve seconds behind TSS. Nonetheless, with the drive the new season provides, they are likely a contender for the podium.
Other competitors include Sir William Perkins’s School BC, who have also put forward two crews; Claires Court School BC, who had some success in a regatta environment recently at the Hammersmith Amateur Regatta, where they even got one coveted ‘easily’ verdict; Sir William Borlase’s Gram Sch BC; and Reading RC.
Predictions
Most likely the fight for first place will be between Wycliffe and TSS, but I reckon it will be Wycliffe that edges ahead to the top spot, leaving the rest of the podium open for Tideway, Molesey, and one or two underdog crews.
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