Summer racing is under way and Henley Royal Regatta is just weeks away. Metropolitan Regatta has always been seen as one of those vital regattas for gauging who will be the main contenders for Henley and so results here will be closely scrutinised by all. I would expect that many of the crews in this Open Championship Coxless Four event will be eyeing up a possible run at the Visitors trophy come Henley.
Oxford University BC
Oxford University has two boats entered on the Saturday. With the Boat Race behind them likely these crews will be looking at testing their speed against some competition before racing in the Visitors at Henley Royal Regatta as they have done in previous years. I have no doubt that these boats will be very fast and the ‘A’ boat should be considered a favourite to win on Saturday given it will hopefully be the outfit seen on social media comprising of four of the winning Blues from the Boat Race crew.
Cambridge University BC
Cambridge also has a crew entered and looking at the quality of the top Oxford entry and with Cambridge losing their top athletes to the GB Rowing Team, it doesn’t seem likely Cambridge will be able to win this battle. Ultimately though, for this crew beating Oxford will be the main objective, so expect this to be an exciting race come Saturday even if it comes in the form of Cambridge against Oxford ‘B’.
Dublin University BC, IRE
Dublin along with quite a few other Irish rowing programmes are this year coming across for Met Regatta and this is therefore an exciting opportunity to see how fast they are up against top UK crews such as from Oxford University, Cambridge University and Durham University.
Durham University BC
Durham and a fairly successful BUCS Regatta this year and in particular saw its championship crews fighting right up in the medals. Third place in Men’s Championship Fours was a very strong result from a programme that clearly has some speed this year. How close they can get to Oxford and Cambridge will be very interesting to see.
University of London BC
UL has a crew entered on the Sunday and likely will be aiming to win. To do this though they will have to beat Durham who have already pipped the UL crew to third place at BUCS Regatta this year. Beating Durham therefore will be the main challenge for UL if it wants to win this event.
Prediction
Lea, Marlow and Agecroft all certainly have the ability to put together strong crews on the Sunday although I doubt, they will be fighting for the win. It will also be exciting to see how competitive some of these other Irish programs such as NUI Galway and Shandon Boat Club are. Ultimately though I think the highlight in this category will be the battle between the two Oxford University crews and Cambridge University on the Saturday.
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