My my, a year does go by fast. It seems only yesterday that the rowing season started in cold and misty September and thousands of rowers began their winter training. An unconscionable amount of UT2 and seat and head racing later, we have made it to the last major regatta before the big one – Henley.
Despite its name, Marlow Regatta has been raced at Eton Dorney since 2001, and is the culmination of the two final regattas before HRR for open events (the other being the Metropolitan Regatta). This Sunday, after great deliberation, the Henley stewards will release the names of the crews required to qualify for the regatta. A good performance here could put any of these crews in the running for a pre-qualified spot. For the remainder – those who can be confident of pre-qualification thanks to successful seasons – this is the time for fine tuning their speed before booms replace lane ropes. The championship quads has been dominated by a select few in the last couple of years, but with the field slightly narrower this year in terms of entries, the title is there to be taken.
Leander Club
A club that needs to introduction to even casual rowing fans, 25 Leander athletes were included in the recent GB squad for Paris (up from 23 in Tokyo). The last time Leander failed to win an event at Henley Royal Regatta was 1996 and the current crop of athletes are as good, if not better, than their forefathers. With a fantastic junior quad that can be relied upon to make the semi-finals of Henley, even on an off year, Leander’s senior quad contains a veritable who’s who of standout scullers. The first of two boats is stroked by Boat Race winner and GB representative Tobias Schroder, with two-time Henley winner and former RUBC sculler Rory Harris at two. Current GB senior athlete and former Leander junior Stephen Hughes and Canadian international Liam Smit sit at three and bow respectively.
The ‘B’ crew contains an equal amount of talent, with HRR winner and British U23 international Miles Deveraux at three, former Claires Court sculler and Henley winner Oliver Costley at stroke, former Durham man Levin Graf at two, and the pride of Carlow, Irish international Jack Keating at bow. Every single rower in each of these boats has represented their country at some point, and many have medaled at World Rowing Cups, Henley Royal Regatta or the junior/U23 world championship level. Given that Leander has also won this event for the past two years, it would be a surprise to see them not take the title again in 2024.
Reading University Boat Club
Standing in the way of the best sculling club in the land is the best university sculling club in the land. Off the back of the most successful BUCS Regattas in the club’s history, where they beat many universities and colleges proficient in both sweep and sculling, Reading have established themselves as the place to be for university sculling. Of the four quads that Reading have entered into this year’s regatta, only one of them has been placed in the championship event, with the remaining three in the second tier category. The sole entry contains, as one might expect, some exceptional sculling talent; first year and GB trialist Matt Long sits at stroke, Ryne Robson at three, Robert Collen at two and Wingfield Sculls winner Josh Lyon at bow. All four have been involved in the GB trialing process this season and each have contributed to the clubs overall success. The question remains around how they can possibly compete with a blistering Leander continent, despite their relative success in 2024. I think this top Reading crew will push the pink palace all the way.
Tideway Scullers School/ D S R Proteus-Eretes(NLD)/Thames Rowing Club A
A composite to finish things off, and what a composite it is. Former Tideway Scullers junior and recent Syracuse graduate Laurence Joss returns to represent his club in this composite, as does bow man and former Temple University rower Adam Oliver. Each have GB experience between them, with Laurence picking up bronze at the U23 Europeans in 2022 and Adam featuring in the double scull at the U23 world championships in the same year. At two is the Dutch addition of the crew, Nick Van de Grift, who stands at an imposing 6ft7 and has competed for Proteus at Henley Royal Regatta in previous years. In the middle and flying the flag for the mighty Thames Rowing Club is HRR veteran Sam Thornton, winner of the Thames Challenge Cup in 2018. The versatile oarsman has switched his trade to sculling to form this boat and, although the unit is untested as of yet, the quality and experience of this crew (which eclipses any in the field, save for perhaps Leander) means they will take some stopping.
Prediction
In any other case I would say this would be a slam-dunk win for Leander but based on how the Reading quad have moved this season, I expect it to be a dogfight for the win. I do however think that Leander will edge Reading out with the Thames/Proteus/TSS composite taking third.
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