There is a very small entry with only four scullers in this event and another four in the J18 equivalent. This may be due to it being the middle weekend of half term for many schools, so girls may have gone on holiday. These scullers are also relatively unknown; none of them have raced so far this season that I’m aware of, as the two Borlase girls weren’t part of the Pairs Head entries. I have had some difficulty finding information on these girls as their names appear in races last season but often under different club names. I am going to have to assume some of them moved for Sixth Form and use past results from previous clubs. With some educated guessing, I will cover all four scullers before making my prediction.
Sir William Borlase – Woffinden
With quite a rare surname, I am going to guess this is the same girl who rowed for Maidenhead last season as a J16. Maidenhead are a good club, but Borlase are very strong rowers and are also a school not a club, so this may have been an academic decision as well. Woffinden is a strong sculler, and won a silver medal in the J16G2x at National Schools. Doubles are always a competitive event, so this is an impressive result and stands her in good stead for this season.
Marlow – Dean
Dean seems to be very accomplished in both sculling and sweep. She was part of the successful Marlow J16 squad, who were narrowly beaten to gold by Henley in the J16CH8+, but still had a fantastic season. Dean also competed in the J16G4x and finished a strong fourth place, showing good sculling ability. To finish the season, she was selected to represent GB in the annual GB France Match in a composite eight with Henley and claimed victory – another great result.
Sir William Borlase – Holgate
Another name I can only recognise from a sculler from another club. Holgate may refer to Lucy Holgate, who had a brilliant J16 season for Nottingham RC, winning Henley Women’s Regatta and a bronze at National Schools in the quad, as well as being selected in the double for GB France. For these reasons I’m not sure why she would leave Nottingham, except a change in school, and I think Borlase would have used her experience and entered her in a double for pairs head, but they didn’t. All this means it is also possible this girl is someone else who I cannot make a judgement about. But Borlase are a high standard club and they would only enter a single if the athlete was competent and competitive for their age.
Itchen Imperial RC – Daniels
I’d never heard of this club before, but it turns out to be a coastal and river rowing club in Southampton. Daniels didn’t compete in any major junior events last year, however I did find one result from Burway Head December 2014 where she came quite near the bottom of the pack of WJ16 1x. She has most likely improved since then and, in a fairly small club, may get more practice in singles than other girls, but I’m not sure she will be able to compete with the big names of Borlase and Marlow on Saturday.
Prediction
1st MAR-Dean, a strong sculler on her home stretch of water
2nd SWB- Woffinden
3rd SWB- Holgate assuming she is not Lucy Holgate from Nottingham, If she is I think she’ll be pushing Dean for first place.
Photo courtesy of http://www.paxton.co.uk/news.asp?strStage=case_studies
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