The summer regatta season has been kick-started, and everyone is counting down the days to one of the biggest races of the year: the National Schools’ Regatta. Held at Dorney Lake, Eton, on the site of the 2012 London Olympic rowing events, this race pushes young athletes to their limits over a six lane, 2km course. The top six boats are decided by a 1900m time trial; it will be these six crews that are in contention for the glory of the gold medal. The question is, who will take that infamous gold medal?
Henley Rowing Club
Despite not having raced a J15 Girls’ 4+ in the 2019 regatta season, Henley are the ‘ones to beat’ at NSR. Their crew is jam-packed with experience as the four rowers and cox have had a very successful career within the rowing world so far. At last year’s National Schools’, the girls were in two WJ14 quads, and dominated the field by winning the time trial comfortably in first and second and then going on to take Gold and Silver in the A final. More recently, Henley Junior Women brought home a solid fourth place at Junior Sculling Head in March with their WJ15 4x+. Will the crew pull through and take the gold medal?
Lady Eleanor Holles School
With a wide breadth of achievement throughout the 2019 Wallingford Regatta, with most boats making it through the heats to the finals, Lady Eleanor Holles School are in contention for the gold medal at NSR 2019. As a club they are obviously doing something right, and these girls have seen success previously in their rowing history, with most of the crew having reached the B final in last year’s National Schools Regatta in the WJ14 8x+. Will they come back stronger and win the gold in the four?
Kingston
Although they haven’t raced a J15 Girls’ 4+ before, Kingston have had a lot of success across the board recently. At last year’s National School’s Regatta, the majority of the crew finished in the B final in the WJ14 4x+. Throughout the rest of the junior programme there has been a multitude of wins and high-level performances. Perhaps these girls will be able to bite through the pain and continue their winning streak by taking the gold medal?
Grange School
Throughout the racing field, Grange School have seen a lot of wins and success. At last year’s NSR, all of this crew with an exception of the cox managed to get into the B final of the WJ14 4x+. As a rowing club, they have a very strong junior programme and competed well at the Junior Inter Regional Trials to represent the North West in the 2019 JIRR (later cancelled because of weather issues). Will Grange be able to take on the other clubs and fight for the gold?
Prediction
It seems difficult to look past the experience of the Henley crew, however everyone is in with a fighting chance at first place because it’s all down to the performance on the day! Good luck to all crews racing at National Schools Regatta on Friday.
Edit
Henley have withdrawn from the event since we published our preview.
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