With Metropolitan Regatta being one of those big stepping stone regattas leading up to Henley Royal, those looking to compete for the Prince Albert Challenge Cup will be wanting to show some speed here and take home some silverware. As always, we can expect some great racing at Eton Dorney with some very close matched crews.
University of London BC
UL is competing on both Saturday and Sunday in the Academic Coxed Four category. BUCS Regatta showed that UL has the speed in the eight to challenge for the Temple come Henley with second place in championship eights. Therefore, I would expect the Prince Albert challenger to be their second crew and so events such as this and Marlow Regatta will be key for them ensuring that this crew has the pace to be a clear contender at Henley. Just reaching the A final at BUCS Regatta in the Men’s Intermediate Coxed Four showed that this crew will likely be competitive. On Saturday they will likely be aiming to just place well in the final with a much wider pool of competition although on Sunday with a few less crews a possible win isn’t out of the question.
University of Bristol BC
Bristol was one of the stars of BUCS Regatta. Wining Men’s Intermediate Coxed Fours in one of the most competitive fields ever, was an enormous achievement. There continues to be rumours that based on this result Bristol is potentially looking to target the Prince Albert at Henley instead of the Temple. Certainly, I would expect Bristol here to be wanting to aim for wining on both Saturday and Sunday.
University of Surrey BC
Surrey was another programme that had a very successful BUCS Regatta this year. Second place in Men’s Intermediate Coxed Four showed that they are very fast this year. This regatta will be important for them as they look to close down that gap between themselves and Bristol University.
Durham University BC
Durham will have been disappointed at missing out on the A/B semis at BUCS Regatta. Being just 0.5 of a second off making it into the semi finals will have made it feel even more cruel. I would expect therefore Durham will be keen to see how they stack up side by side with the likes of Bristol and UL who did make it through to the A final at BUCS.
Dublin University BC, IRE
Ireland has in the last decade seen a revolution in its rowing culture in no part thanks to its success on the international circuit. As part of this massive growth of rowing in Ireland programs such as that at Dublin University have increasingly become formidable. I will for one be very interested to see how this crew stacks up against the likes of UL and Bristol.
Prediction
With it looking as though Bristol and Durham are prioritising this event I predict they will be the main contenders at the front of the field on both days, with Dublin potentially capable of matching them and UL and Surrey not far behind.
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