With regatta season well and truly underway, the Metropolitan Regatta gives athletes across the country another opportunity to test their speed against one another over the classic two-kilometre course. This year, the women’s academic eights has proved to be a very popular event, attracting a large quantity of crews on both Saturday and Sunday, including a number from Ireland. As HRR looms large on the horizon, teams will be looking to give a strong performance in order to get themselves on the stewards’ radar, with hopes of being selected directly into the main Henley draw.
Newcastle University Boat Club
This weekend, Newcastle has two crews entered into the women’s academic eights event on both Saturday and Sunday. After just missing out on a medal at BUCS Regatta with a fourth place in the women’s championship eights, they followed this up with success at the Boat Race of the North, beating Durham in five out of six disciplines. With one crew entered into the women’s championship eights, we can assume that it is Newcastle’s second and third Eights who will be looking to emulate this recent victory in the academic eights at Dorney Lake on both days this weekend.
Durham University Boat Club
Just like Newcastle, Durham has entered a crew into this event for both days this weekend, giving themselves two opportunities to overturn the recent result at the Boat Race of the North. Nevertheless, they will be going into the race taking confidence from their bronze medal at BUCS Regatta in the championship eights event, and will certainly be one of the stronger crews out there this weekend.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
Throughout the year, Brookes has continued their domination in university rowing. After a strong performance at BUCS Regatta, taking gold in the championship eights event, they replicated this on the international stage at the International Wedau Regatta last weekend, where they were victorious in the women’s eights category on both days. While their entry into the women’s academic eights event for this weekend appears to be their third Eight, the unparalleled depth of the Brookes squad means that they are likely to be one of the strongest contenders out there on Saturday.
Imperial College Boat Club
Across the board, Imperial had some strong performances at BUCS Regatta, including a gold medal in the women’s championship pairs, and a bronze in the women’s championship coxless fours event. However, after coming sixth in the women’s championship eights repechage, and therefore becoming the only crew to be eliminated before the final, they will be coming into their race on Sunday looking to build on this result.
Nottingham University Boat Club
After a comparatively quiet start to the year, Nottingham had an outstanding result at BUCS Regatta, placing fifth in the women’s championship eights final, only half a second out from Newcastle. This is no doubt at least in part down to the influence of their new head coach, Ade Roberts, a former high-performance coach to the GB senior rowing team. With two crews down to race in the women’s academic eights event on Sunday, it will be interesting to see if they can replicate this performance away from their home turf.
Prediction
With many teams who have demonstrated the depth of their rowing squads entered into the women’s academic eights event, there will no doubt be some exciting racing taking place this weekend, particularly between Newcastle and Durham, who are entered into both days. I would expect to see these two clubs battling it out for top spot on both Saturday and Sunday, with Brookes likely to challenge for gold on the first day.
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