The last of the traditional tune-up regattas before HRR and HWR (the others being Wallingford and the Metropolitan Regatta), Marlow Regatta is the final hurdle for both junior and senior crews. Many of these rowers will have endured hours of steady-state, early morning weights, and many weekly water sessions in order to get the perfect crew combination. With a high quality of racing at NSR, the Junior 18 Eights looks to be a cracker of a race.
Radley College Boat Club
A club with an incredible amount of depth, Radley stormed to wins in both J16 8+ events and 3rd 8+ and Second 8+ events, showing quite plainly that the club still remains a potent force in junior rowing. Radleys new-look second eight features two new faces following some late-season seat racing, with March Turnball brought in at stroke and Adam Fowler at six, replacing Mark Kakoma who has been promoted to the first eight. Having narrowly beaten Shiplake and Eton, this new look eight will look to match their previous speed in order to provide a springboard for qualification for the Temple at Henley later this month.
Shiplake College Boat Club
Hot on the heels of Radley is Shiplake College Boat Club who finished a close second at NSR. Three members of the current crew (Thomas Madden, Edward Humphries, and stroke Luca Brya) were in the J16 8+ crew that beat Shrewsbury by three seconds to win last year’s event, so Shiplake have a good pedigree that one would hope they bring to Marlow. The crew has shown already this season by their performances at Schools Head, where they beat Radley by around ten seconds that they can go toe to toe with the best. Having said that, a dissapointing Wallingford, where the crew failed to progress to the A-final shows that Shiplake are perhaps a little inconsistent at this stage in the season. That aside, the crew is still as strong as Shiplake have produced.
Reading Blue Coat School Boat Club
A school program on the rise, the men from Reading Bluecoat are on the up following decent result at NSR, where the school placed 6th in the B-Final. However, they did prove considerable skill earlier in the season over a longer distance, when winning the School’s Head of the River first 8s event in a time of 17:45.4, which would have scored an outstanding 8th in the championship eights. Although in tough competition, I look forward to what the Blue Coat boat will produce in a smaller field, especially as the largest remaining event in prelude to HRR.
Prediction
With many crews entering their first crews in the championship event, the junior eights preview will feature younger crews, usually shrouded in the talent of the older age categories. Considering this and the variety of crews, it is hard to predict outcome to the race but I will enjoy the showcase of speed.
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