The sweep blades and club rivalries are out again as the J16s finally get an opportunity to race after an I’ve-lost-count-of-the-months amount of time. The NSR Girls’ J16 8+ race is pretty hefty this year, with twelve entrants from around Britain. With the girls on the dawn of entering the senior squads, this race will be an essential distinguisher for the eights racing – including the impending head season – next year.
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association
This club is one of the most acclaimed in Scotland, having produced Abigail Topp and Megan Hewison, who were voted Scottish Rowing Crew of the Year and placed 7th in the World at the Junior World Championships in 2019. The club’s most recent conquest was the Scottish Virtual Indoor Championships, where they gathered an impressive haul of three bronzes, five silvers (one of which was a WJ16) and five golds. They certainly have an impressive reputation, but little can be found about what their J16 girls’ sweep skills are like.
Godolphin and Latymer School Boat Club
This is another club with a history of competitive success: they are currently double gold winners at the NSR; runners up at Henley Women’s; regularly sending J18 rowers to GB trials, and have seen both current students and alumnae competing in the U18 and the U23 World Championships as part of the GB crew. Recently their J16s have been training especially hard, but more so in quads than in their eight.
Lady Eleanor Holles Boat Club
LEH has garnered a fairly formidable reputation already. Still, their J16s, along with a few other clubs entered here, competed at the Desborough Regatta on Saturday, yielding mixed results and little idea of their sweep skills. However, they have been doing a lot of competitive training in the eight against other crews, so they should be well drilled at race pace. This is reflected in our poll about the Girls’ Championship Eight result, where 34% of participants thought LEH would take gold — I reckon if this is true, their J16s won’t be far behind.
Latymer Upper School Boat Club
Latymer also looks like a strong contender, having done plenty of side-by-side eights work lately. The race will also be their new 1st VIII’s shell’s maiden voyage, so an upgrade for the J16 boat is a reasonable assumption.
Other entrants include Great Marlow School Boat Club; Monmouth School For Girls, who have recently been affected by flooding but have been J16 champions in the past; Kings School Chester; Monkton Combe School Boat Club; Northwich Rowing Club; Putney High School; Surbiton High School Boat Club; and Enniskillen Royal Boat Club.
Prediction
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association and Lady Eleanor Holles Boat Club look like the biggest contenders for the top spot. The Latymer Upper School Boat Club is a good possibility for placing too. With the increased training in eights these clubs appear to be doing, they’ll be in good stead for some quick times, but only time will tell given the long period without the pressure of racing.
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