Marlow this year has seen a vast entry into the eights event, with crews from schools, universities and clubs all looking to get some racing done in the lead up to the various Eights events at Henley.
This preview will be looking at the academic cews in the Tier 2 part of the draw, an event mainly populated with club crews. Nevertheless, the academic crews racing will want to show their speed, and, crucially given the size of entry expected for Henley this year, earn a result that will earn them pre-qualification into the regatta draw.
Oxford Brookes University BC
A name needing no introduction to the student rowing scene, Brookes will look to show their speed ahead of Henley again this week. This is a crew, who despite not being the top of the Brookes squad have shown very good speed this season, testament to the depth of squad they boast. They took the Academic Eight title on the Saturday of the Met Regatta and will be looking to do the same again here.
University of London BC
UL have had a stellar season up until this point and will look to carry that form all the way into Henley. They have recently been on a camp to the London Docklands to sharpen their racing skills. In terms of results thus far this season they took fifth in the A final of Men’s Intermediate Eights at BUCS and took second in the C final on the Sunday after placing ninth in Academic Eights on the Saturday of the Met Regatta. Seeing how they compare here will be interesting.
Newcastle University BC
Newcastle has two crews racing in this part of the event, in addition to their first ranked Temple crew who are racing the Championship category. The second crew is made up of a combination of athletes from the Men’s Intermediate Eight from BUCS who placed second in the B final, and three lightweights from the gold medal winning Lightweight Coxless Four.
The second crew is largely the same crew who took fourth in the same B final of Intermediate Eights at BUCS, so both of these boats should be towards the top end of this event.
Edinburgh University BC
Edinburgh have had a stellar season thus far, where they took the overall VL at BUCS Regatta with medal performances across the board. This boat seems to be a mix of athletes from the second and third eights from this season, and they will want to produce a strong result. This crew was runner up to another Edinburgh crew at the recent Scottish championships, and they will want to bring this speed down south with them.
Imperial College London BC
IC are a club who have slightly struggled to replicate their form from last year that saw them make the final of the Temple at Henley. However, there seem to be signs that they are back on the right track. Given that they have put their top athletes into the Prince Albert crew, the fact that Imperial took fourth in university eights at a regatta in Croatia, then placing fifth on the Saturday and then ninth on the Sunday in Academic Eights is all positive for the crew. This should give confidence to Imperial heading into this event and then onto Henley.
Oxford University Lightweight RC
Oxford Lightweights are back in the eight for the summer after the disappointment of loosing out to Cambridge in the lightweight boat races earlier this year. Since then they have raced at BUCS Regatta, picking up medals in a variety of lightweight events both sculling and sweeping. Being back in an eight should be familiar territory for these guys, and they will want to prove that they can mix it with heavyweights in this category.
Prediction
Some of the other crews in this event consist of other universities that have been racing more locally over the course of the summer season and will all be looking to produce a good result here in the lead up to their Henley campaign. As well as this there are several school crews looking to show what they can offer as they try to sneak their way into the Temple for an experience of a Henley race.
This is a tricky event to call with lots of crews seemingly all very close together in terms of their speed. Nevertheless, I would be calling yet another win for Brookes, with UL following them home, with Newcastle taking third spot.
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