Just a week away from GB early IDs, this race gives junior athletes the perfect opportunity to both prepare and see they how they compare against top competition. Entries from top clubs with recent Junior World Rowing Championships experience, such as Tideway Scullers, Shiplake, and Sir William Perkins, will ensure a highly competitive standard. Additionally, as this race is one of the first of the season, these clubs will want to push into the top spots early this year.
Tideway Scullers School
Winners of the The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2023 and renowned across the UK for their sculling program, Tideway Scullers School have had numerous juniors representing GB, and recently, Delevante winning silver in the quad at the U19 World Rowing Championships which could give this crew their edge. They have a strong troupe of girls and will perform well this weekend.
Shiplake College Boat Club
Shiplake College Boat Club have put their stamp on the UK rowing circuit. They specialised in sweep last year and did particularly well during head race season, which has generally seemed to be their forte. Their second boat, a quad, qualified in last summer’s Henley Royal Regatta Royal and came seventh in the Girl’s Championship Quads at the Schools’ Head of the River Race Race in March. They have credible experience racing in this category. There are few recent sculling results to go by, but I foresee that being fresh from a week’s training camp, they will be raring to go.
Sir William Perkins’s School Boat Club
Sir William Perkins’s School Boat Club is another club with plenty of international representation this past summer, impressively putting out two girls to race at the U19 World Rowing Championships and two at the Home International Regatta. Most recently, they won the women’s eight and women’s junior single at Gloucester Autumn Head. They have two quads entered in this category, and if they can perform as they did a couple of weeks ago at Gloucester, we will surely see a strong result from them.
Prediction
I predict that Tideway Scullers School will win the gold due to their successful track record in racing quads, with Shiplake College Boat Club and Sir William Perkins’s School Boat Club battling for the silver. Most clubs have entered more than one crew, so it isn’t easy to know if these clubs are putting out their top boats or mixed boats. With some of the top names in the junior sculling circuit entered into a relatively minor regatta, we are sure to see some exciting racing.
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