With a Sunday berth making it arguably the stand-out category of the day, Championship Girls Eights was something of a formality until last year’s blockbuster of a race. Henley and Headington, perennial rivals at the summit of junior women’s rowing, stood head and shoulders above all other competition, a duel which culminated in a phenomenal race as the sun set across Dorney Lake. Both crews packed punches, withstood intense pressure and threw every ounce of will, lactic and soul at the contest, but it was the familiar shade of Headington blue which stood atop the podium as the dust settled in 2017. This year, we could be in for the fall of a dynasty.
Headington School
Headington, undoubtedly, find themselves under pressure this year, with top junior women’s coach Ryan Demaine’s eyes set on the potential of an impressive decade long streak in this event. It’s looking like HSOBC will fall a year short though as their rivals finally bridge the incredible gap that had opened up between Demaine’s girls and the rest of the junior rowing cohort over the past decade. With Henley taking the Women’s and School’s Head pennants, there’s been a clear role reversal from last season as the Oxford girls don’t quite seem to be able to catch their rivals. They had a successful weekend at Wallingford, topping the junior women’s category by four seconds, but they weren’t able to catch SHORR bronze medallists LEH in the challenge category. I would still back them to take the silver medal, but the top spot seems to be firmly in Henley’s hands.
Henley RC
After years playing second-fiddle to Headington, Henley will be pleased to find themselves as favourites going into this year’s National Schools’ Regatta. Their results speak for themselves; wins at the Pair’s Head, Four’s Head, Women’s Head and Schools’ Head, alongside a domination of the GB trials results, they leave little room for doubt. They’ve worked their way through the age groups, dispatching opposition with apparent ease at every turn. Their cool ruthlessness has defined them as the crew to beat throughout their careers and the combination of exceptional talent, desire and coaching infrastructure makes this one of the most exciting junior women’s crews we’ve seen in a long time. Their absence at Wallingford with many athletes competing at Munich might put them on the back foot, but it would be a genuine sporting shock to not see them crowned champions this coming weekend.
Lady Eleanor Holles
Lady Eleanor Holles will be eyeing up the bronze medal after finishing in a difficult fourth last year. Celia Matthews, now with both Coupe and Junior World vests, is their top sweep athlete and will offer valuable experience to her crew. LEH were 3rd at the Schools’ Head this year, and whilst they were twelve seconds behind Headington there, they finished ahead of them at Wallingford Regatta in the Challenge Eights category. They showed promise in their win in the JW2- at Pairs Head, so perhaps they have stepped on here and the race for the silver medal will be closer than expected.
Latymer Upper School
Whilst Latymer’s focus will be on the quad this year, this event falls on the Sunday of the National Schools’ Regatta so they may have the advantage of some of their top end athletes joining this crew. Their two quads finished with the 2nd and 7th fastest times of the junior entries at HOR4s back in November and this eight has shown promise since then, after finishing 2nd behind LEH at Quintin Head, although they were the slowest of the Champ eight entries at SHORR. Finishing two seconds behind HSOBC at Wallingford Regatta, however, indicates they may have really found some speed recently, so they will be one to keep an eye on this weekend.
Glasgow Academy
Glasgow were the next quickest crew behind LEH at School’s Head, finishing around fifteen seconds behind the Hampton based school. They’ve had some very strong crews in the past, on both the men’s and women’s side, and I feel sure Iain Somerside will have this boat rowing well with plenty of horsepower to send the shell. They do have a couple of trialists this year performing fairly well who will offer valuable experience to the crew, but they seem to be a little too far off the pace to be in with a real shot at a medal.
Marlow Rowing Club
A club with rich history and heritage in the junior rowing world, Marlow have struggled to stay relevant since the impressive achievements of their quad back in 2014. They’ve got two exceptional athletes in Charlotte Fennell and Natasha Strudwick, who offer poise and power to the crew, and they’ll certainly be eyeing an ‘A’ final placing this weekend. Whether or not they can achieve that is worth placing in the context of an extremely competitive field. As a crew, their ambitions may well be loftier than simply making the final but I can’t honestly seem them unseating Henley, Headington or Lady Eleanor Holles.
Nottingham County Rowing Association
Having placed 2nd at Wallingford Regatta two weeks ago, this crew are standing in very good stead coming into this race. With a close 2nd in the 1st 8+ category at SHORR, we have seen them place highly throughout the season and I believe, especially considering their good results recently at Dorney, we could see this crew easily finding a place in the top 6.
Sir William Perkins School
This crew appears to be one of the less experienced crews entered in this category but the results it does have by its name gives high expectations for them this weekend. At Wallingford, they made it into the A final, placing 6th. Previously at WeHORR, they placed 4th, 0.1 seconds ahead of Headington. From looking at Headington’s other results from this year, we can see that this was a big achievement for the crew and should give them a lot of confidence going into this race.
Royal Shrewsbury School
Having placed 5th at Wallingford and 9th at SHORR in the 1st 8+ category, their top crew has a history of racing well but not really clinching the top spots. This can be seen again at Wallingford Head earlier in the season when the 2 Shrewsbury eights entered placed 3rd and 5th. This was once again echoed at Bedford Regatta where they failed to make the final but put in a good race. I imagine that the crews will be comfortably in the B final.
Bedford Girls School
At SHORR, Bedford placed 5th in the 1st 8+ category placing them ahead of many of the other boats in this category. Over the shorter distance, this crew won at Bedford regatta beating crews such as the top Shrewsbury boat. This proves that they will have a high chance of doing well among the other boats and have a chance of grasping one of the higher places in this event.
Prediction
Henley
Headington
LEH
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