Nine entries will be challenging for the John Brocklebank Challenge Cup, sponsored by T2 Consulting.
Marlow Regatta will provide one of two things for any crews. The first is reassurance that they’re exactly where they want to be in terms of speed for Henley Royal. The second is the crew going to panic stations and seat racing immediately follows as the line up is clearly wrong, less than a week until qualifiers…
I’m sure all of these doubles will have prepared admirably.
Leander Club
At the time of writing this preview, HRR entries have closed but have not been published. However, given the amount of time Matt Brigham and Alex King have spent together, we should be expecting an entry in the Double Sculls from them. Matt Brigham needs no introduction, the Kingslayer himself has paired up with former Twickenham Start rower, Alex King. The two have raced well at the likes of Ghent, picking up fourth and fifth place over the two days of racing on the continent. Having recently backed this up with a second place finish at Met, this dynamic duo can be fairly confident of a top place finish this weekend at Dorney.
Twickenham RC & Queen’s University, Belfast
Another product of Twickenham Start, Aidan Thompson will be teaming up with U23 European champion, Nathan Hull, both athletes picked up silverware at BUCS Regatta for their respective universities. Thompson has already seen success in the double this season as he won the Championship event with Callum Dixon at Met so he’ll be hoping the addition of Nathan Hull will continue this patch of winning. The composite will likely be the only double that could topple Leander, it could be cracking contest.
Globe RC, Cardiff University BC/Cardiff Metropolitan University BC & Nottingham RC
All three of these doubles have seen some racing action at the likes of Metropolitan Regatta. Globe Rowing Club saw A Finals on both days, as did Floyd Millham-Ellaway who’s in the Welsh crew. Both scullers in the Nottingham double raced on the Sunday, beating Globe who in tern beat Millham-Ellaway on the Saturday…I am not the first and I’m certainly not the last to read into some indirect racing….
Prediction
This field also sees representation from Weybridge, Lea, Newark/Leeds and Bath University who are unlikely to challenge for a top three finish.
My prediction… Twickenham composite, then Leander, followed by Nottingham RC.
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