Marlow Regatta marks the final major regatta before Henley Royal for most Men’s crews and can be vital for boosting the confidence of crews as they look to peak in time for the highlight of the season at Henley. Marlow regatta can though be a very interesting regatta with it being one of the few chances to see eight lane racing between junior, university and senior club crews.
St. Andrew BC
St. Andrew has had a very successful season this year up in Scotland. Dominating much of the Scottish club rowing scene it will be exciting to see how they stack up against many of the English clubs. A strong result here would line them up nicely for a run at the Thames as Henley. I doubt they will have the speed to challenge right at the top but I could see them gaining a surprisingly strong result.
Green Lake Crew, USA
After the long trip over the pond from the USA, Green Lake will be very keen to stretch their legs and get their first chance to see how competitive they are as they prepare for Henley Royal Regatta. Last time they came over in 2019 they were unfortunately knocked out early on day two. It will be exciting therefore to see how fast this crew is and whether they can make it through a few more rounds this year.
Molesey BC & University of London BC
Down as the Molesey ‘B’ boat, this is likely a crew made up of ‘club’ rowers who are not taking part in Molesey’s high performance programme. However, with some big names such as George Stewart, Dave Bell and Kenny Gray this will be one of the top club crews in the event for sure. Being a composite, they will not be allowed to race in the Thames Cup as this crew so time will tell what the future holds for the combination.
Thames RC
It is the Thames ‘C’ crew which we see racing in the Tier 2 competition at the weekend, with two eights in Championship. The club has proved once again it’s staggering depth this summer at Wallingford and at Met, so even though this is in reality the fourth or fifth boat considering athletes racing in other boat classes I would bank on them being right at the sharp end of the category and contesting the win against first eights from many other clubs.
Prediction
The Tier 2 competition also contains universities and schools who have not been mentioned in this preview, so from the club competition alone I predict that Molesey/UL will come out on top closely followed by Thames. After that it’s anyone’s guess, with the likes of London, Agecroft and others to come into the mix in what will absolutely be a tightly packed competition.
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