The contest for places in the A final of this year’s J15 coxed quads will be wide open thanks to the absence of four of the best performing crews from the junior sculling head earlier this year (Latymer Upper, Tideway Scullers, Hereford and St Georges). The more recent cancellation of JIRR has helped keep emerging talent under wraps, but the presence of an astonishing 62 crews in this competition for the coveted Creber Cup suggests that there will be plenty of fierce racing. Assuming the conditions don’t rock the boat (remember this is Dorney and not Nottingham), the big question is whether Trentham will continue to dominate or will someone knock them off their perch?
Trentham Boat Club
This crew had a stellar J14 year, winning the junior sculling head, JIRR, National Schools’ Regatta and British Junior Championships. This year they look to be on the same track as at the junior sculling head they won by an astounding 11 seconds, although JIRR was cancelled so we don’t know how they’ve progressed since then. Despite that, you have to acknowledge them as favourites approaching the event.
Maidenhead
These boys have proven themselves to be competent in both quads and small boats. At Hampton SBH they won the J15 doubles and came second in J15 singles. At the junior Sculling Head a month later, they came second and then managed to just get a win over long-time rivals Windsor Boys at the Junior Sculling Regatta, claiming a course record in the process. All of this puts them in good stead for this weekend.
Windsor Boys School
It seems that this famous institution of schoolboy rowing has managed to produce yet another fine crew in time for the calendar’s biggest event. This outfit have had a good season, finishing first in J15 quads at Hampton SBH, coming a respectable eight at the Junior Sculling Head with only two seconds separating them from the top five. As mentioned above, they were also second at the Junior Sculling Regatta by an agonising 59 milliseconds behind Maidenhead. These results paired with their excellent history in rowing puts in them in a strong position.
Grange School
This is one of those clubs whose location means that they only come south for the larger competitions, so their form is hard to gauge. Having said that they have some excellent results, finishing second at the National Schools’ Regatta last year in the quads and coming a strong 4th at the Scullery. Of course we don’t know though how much they have progressed since the latter event so a podium finish could still be on the cards.
Predictions
1st place: Trentham
2nd place: Maidenhead
3rd place: Windsor and/or Grange School.
Due to the absence of so many of the top performing crews those last couple of places in the A final are all to play for.
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