It’s finally come. The return to the high-octane thrills of side-by-side regatta racing that we’ve all been yearning for during the last 14 months. This year’s Desmond Hill Cup for J16 Boys Eights sees a healthy 16-strong entry of schoolboy eights competing for the gold-medal honours on the (hopefully) sun-baked waters of Eton Dorney. The J16 boys competing in this event have had a tough year – and it’s worth bearing in mind that most of these athletes will have never competed at a regatta in a sweep boat – with their last full season being as J14 scullers. This makes my job particularly difficult, with the only real available results being from their J14 year and some of the early 2020 Head races like Hampton Big Boats and Quintin. However, that should only heighten the anticipation and excitement, with this being one of the most unpredictable categories of the entire regatta.
Abingdon School Boat Club
As a boat club, Abingdon has struggled to win much silverware in recent years. Although their J16s managed to win the bronze at National Schools’ back in 2019, unfortunately there’s very little to go on with the current crop of athletes. They didn’t compete at many of the biggest Head races in early 2020, so the only real results I’ve got are from their J14 year, when they placed sixth in the B-Final of J14 Octos. Although they could certainly have improved a lot since then, it seems unlikely that they’ll be challenging for medals this time around.
Dulwich College Boat Club
Dulwich keeps a fairly low profile as a boat club, generally placing in the midst of Child Beale level schools. However, going on their results as J14s and J15s, their current crop of J16 athletes could be something unusually special, coming 3rd in the Octo B-Final at National Schools’ 2019. More impressively, however, they placed 2nd at Hampton Big Boats in February 2020, only two seconds behind Westminster, and ahead of serious contenders like Shiplake, Radley and Hampton. Who knows whether they’ll have been able to retain that speed over the last year and a bit.
Eton College Boat Club
Eton are one of the most difficult boat clubs to predict, due to their long-standing policy of hiding their young athletes away from racing until they appear, often rather explosively, as J16s. Having recently hosted Radley, Shrewsbury, Teddies and Shiplake for side-by-side racing at Dorney, Eton’s J16s shouldn’t be short of racing practice. Therefore, although they have no prior results, I would expect to see something fairly special from these Etonians.
Hampton School Boat Club
Hampton are another boat club which have struggled to compete at the very top end of schoolboy rowing in recent years. This crop of J16s had a fairly mediocre J14 season, winning the C-Final at National Schools’. Since then, however, much has changed, and having made the transition to sweep rowing as J15s, they managed to place 5th at Hampton Big Boats Head back in February 2020. They have also managed to do some private match racing with Radley, but I wouldn’t expect the boys from Hampton to be competing for medals this year.
The King’s School Chester Rowing Club
Although I wouldn’t normally expect much from King’s Chester, their current J16s did have an unusually impressive year as J14s, winning the National Schools’ J14 Octo time trial and eventually coming home with a bronze medal. Although a huge amount changes between your J14 and J16 year, and it’s difficult to predict how well sculling prowess translates into sweep boats, I certainly wouldn’t rule out King’s Chester completely . They could very well be the dark horse of this event.
Radley College Boat Club
Of all the J16 Eights racing in the Desmond Hill Cup this year, the boys from Radley have the most pedigree behind them. As J14s, they came home with a gold in the Octo, and also had a fairly successful early 2019-20 season, coming 4th in J15 Eights at Hampton Big Boats Head. More recently, they’ve been time trial racing with Hampton, and have also been hosted for some side-by-side racing by Eton. I would certainly expect them to make the A-Final, if not challenge for a medal.
Shiplake College Boat Club
The J16s from Shiplake, like Radley, have some solid results behind them from the J14 and J15 seasons. As J14s, they won a silver medal at National Schools’, whilst they came 3rd at Hampton in early 2020, and won Quintin Head by nearly 10 seconds. Although Shiplake don’t always shine through as a club until the older years, I would expect this to be a seriously competitive crew.
St Paul’s School Boat Club
The boys from St Paul’s are, as far as I can see, the only crew in this event who’ve managed to race in a regatta so far this season, with their J16 1st, 2nd and 3rd Eights all racing each other at Hammersmith Regatta last month. They also had a successful season as J14s, placing 4th in the Octo at NSR, whilst they came 6th at Quintin Head back in January 2020. If Bobby Thatcher’s magic is continuing to trickle down through the club, I would be extremely surprised if these athletes weren’t on the podium this year.
Westminster School Boat Club
Although Westminster’s J16s didn’t impress in their J14 season, only coming third in the C-Final back at NSR 2019, they appeared to up their game as J15s, coming 4th at Quintin Head, before winning Hampton Big Boats by nearly 2 seconds in February 2020. Although it’s difficult to know how well these young athletes have managed to cope over several lockdowns, they should be at the top-end of this event.
Winchester College Boat Club
Winchester generally keeping themselves to themselves and avoid some of the more major events. It’s well known that they train on little more than 1km ditch, and with most of their big boat training taking place away from Winchester and out of Southampton University’s Boat Club, it’s likely that they’ve been more affected than most by Coronavirus restrictions preventing them from travelling. Their current crop of J16s only came 2nd in the C-Final of J14 Octos back in 2019, so who knows what kind of speed they’ll produce this weekend.
Others
With the difficulties of the last 14 months, there’s certainly more chance than ever of a surprise upset of the traditional junior rowing order. This year’s Desmond Hill Cup also sees entries from both Bedford Modern and Bedford School, as well as Reading Blue Coat’s, although I wouldn’t expect much from any of them. St George’s College – who are usually relatively unknown – had some surprisingly impressive results as J15s, coming 3rd at Quintin Head – so could do relatively well, whilst Latymer Upper should certainly not be languishing at the lower-end of the event. Finally, Shrewsbury, who would usually justify their own section of a preview, simply have almost no form to go on, having not competed as J14s – but could prove to be a serious contender.
Predictions
If our poll is anything to go on, then Bedford Modern are going to win by about 1900 metres. This seems unlikely, but who knows what all of these J16s have been able to do behind closed doors over the last year. This makes NSR 2021 one of the most unpredictable ever, and we could see a major upset. However, if I was forced to predict the result, then I would expect Shiplake and St Paul’s to be tussling for the gold medal, with Eton, Westminster and Radley not far behind.
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