With the Henley Royal Regatta draw being announced on Thursday 15th June, all crews will be hoping their year of preparation will culminate in the final opportunity for crews to pre-qualify for the Fawley Challenge Cup at Marlow Regatta this weekend. We now know that Claires Court’s ‘triple’ shall not be replicated by Maidenhead this year, following their bronze at the National School’s Regatta. 32 crews shall contest this event and with just over one week until the HRR qualification regatta, everything is on the line.
Windsor Boys’ School
Following wins in both Championship Quads and Double Sculls at the National Schools’ Regatta, Windsor are the crew to beat. We did not see them race at the Metropolitan Regatta a few weekends ago so it will be interesting to see if this quartet can carry forward the momentum that has been building for sometime. There is no doubt this crew can return to Eton, Dorney and dominate Junior Quads like they did at NSR. That being said, they are entered without their top sculler, Tom Smith, hence, this lineup may not be as strong as we have come to expect of Windsor.
Globe ‘A’
Followig a strong second place at Met Regatta, Globe look to have come on significantly in the weeks since NSR. This will be extremely encouraging for them as the Fawley Cup looms ever closer. That being said, Globe will need to prove themselves again in a significantly larger field to prove Met was not a one off result.
Lea
The Lea boys will have been disappointed with their result from NSR given their strong season up until that point. There was some evidence that they are turning this result around with 3rd at Met however, a result like NSR will not be what crew is wanting as they will ultimately want to avoid the qualification regatta next Friday.
Star and Arrow
Star and Arrow are once again emphasising the amount of talent in their squad by entering two crews into this event. Their 1st quad won silver behind Windsor at NSR and their 2nd Quad was the fastest ‘B’ boat. Star and Arrow will undoubtedly look to have two boats in the Fawley, and Marlow is the perfect place to demonstrate their strength both at the top of junior sculling and also in the depth of their talent too.
Gloucester Hartpury
This is another club who are fielding two boats. Gloucester had a strong NSR placing 7th in Championship Quads and have potentially emerged as a new contender in junior sculling. This is certainly a crew to watch this wekend.
Maidenhead
Maidenhead will have been looking to dominate Junior Quads at Met however, they placed an under-par 5th in a small field. This result is not what the top quartet would have been expecting. Consequently, this makes Marlow Regatta that bit more important for them to re- establish themselves as potential Fawley winners. They too are fielding two boats which will both come out fighting just as we have come to expect from this club.
Westminster
Due to the absence of NSR 4th placed quad, Claire’s Court, Westminster have the opportunity to demonstrate they can reach the weekend of Henley in this outfit. 5th at NSR is a highly commendable result, amd this should be used as a springboard forward to the final few races of the season. A strong row could see them close the gap on the likes of Windsor and Star and Arrow.
Tideway Scullers
Having brought Champ 1x winner back into the crew, TSS have had a promising Met, placing 4th. It looks like they’ve brought in former Kingston rower Cameron Christie to their lineup and his talents will be of great benefit. It will be interesting to see this crew in action this weekend as well as developing further over the next week.
Watch out for Bedford Modern School. Following an NSR to forget in their VIII, the school has opted to switch back to two blades and hopefully pick up from where their successful quad ended last season.
My Prediction…Maidenhead to bounce back and win or Star and Arrow.
6 man
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