As the first major national regatta of the summer season, the Metropolitan Regatta will host some great crews from across England as well as the Republic of Ireland on the 2012 Olympic Course at Eton Dorney. There is racing offered across two days, with some clubs opting to enter this event on both days while others will mix it up racing in other boat classes on one day or the other.
Leander Club
The crème de la crème of British Rowing for a while now, Leander Club quads are always to be respected given the way that they feed into the national team setup. In this event they are racing two quads on Saturday, with neither racing on Sunday. The ‘A’ quad appears to be their junior crew, who placed third at the National Schools Regatta on this course last weekend. The ‘B’ crew, however, seems to contain Senior athletes including atleast one who was in both winning Prince of Wales Challenge Cup crews from Henley Royal Regatta 2021 and 2022.
Reading University
The premier home for British sculling talent at the University level, Reading University Boat Club will race three crews on the Saturday. So far this season they have come out on top at the BUCS Regatta in Nottingham in the Championship Quad event. Moreover, they also placed second in the Intermediate Quad. They also have experience at the front end of this event after placing only behind a National Junior Team crew on Saturday last year. They will look to propel themselves towards the top end in this event this year.
Bath University
Another strong sculling program is the Bath University Boat Club. They were runners up to Reading in the Championship Quad at BUCS and came out ahead of them in the Intermediate Quads. This is their first stop on their campaign for the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta and they have three quads entered. One – most likely the Championship Quad from BUCS – will race on Saturday while the other two will race as a Quad only on Sunday.
Thames Rowing Club
The efforts of Thames Rowing Club each year are usually focused on a single point: the event at Henley Royal Regatta. This being an event in the eights, the name of Thames Rowing Club isn’t exactly synonymous with sculling. This year, however, the Putney Club seems to have put together a good quad. Fourth place at the Fours’ Head in November and second place at Wallingford Regatta at the end of April are the kind of results which inspire confidence. They race both days and will fancy themselves for a win on one of them at least.
London Rowing Club
London Rowing Club are in quite a similar position to their Putney neighbours previously discussed. They finished fifth and third at Fours’ Head and Wallingford Regatta respectively, in each case narrowly and immediately behind a crew from Thames. However, London have a second quad in this event and are racing both of them in both days. This depth in their sculling squad will allow for competitive racing -at least as much as the Tideway circulation pattern will let – this may push them to faster speeds, towards their colleagues from along the embankment.
University of Limerick
In Sunday’s racing there are two entries from the emerald eye, and while quad racing has been limited so far this regatta season my guess for the better of the two would be the crew from the University of Limerick Rowing Club. A win at Skibereen Regatta meens there is some decent speed in the shell but the cancellation of the category at the Irish University Championships stops more perfect measures of how much speed.
Prediction
With two days of racing and not much previous regatta racing this season (or quad specific racing all together) predictions are hard to make. My guess for Saturday’s racing is dependent on the quality of the Leander ‘B’crew. If it is similar to the crew that won at Wallingford Regatta, then they will likely be the class of the field with Reading University and Thames RC trailing behind but if it is more like the crew that was in fourth at the event, they will more likely be scrambling with Bath University and London RC for third. Another spanner in the works is that the Junior Crews will be integrated with the Seniors, so Windsor Boys’ School may get their noses in among those at the front of the Open Event.
On Sunday, I would expect Thames RC to be the best of what’s left with Bath University and London RC rounding out the podium.
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