The Men’s Championship Coxless Fours at NSR 2022 is probably the most exciting category outside Ch8+. Hours of steady-state, weights, and technical refinement have gone into these boats to ensure a medal. This is the culmination of many young rowers’ schoolboy rowing careers and will provide a boost to Henley and beyond. The Royal Engineers Cup is there for the taking. And there will be many crews looking to place their hands on it.
Kings College School Boat Club
The success that KCS has had over the winter and into the summer racing period has consisted in the main of success in the Eight. A win in both coxed and coxless fours at Fours Head was followed by a second-place at HORR, a result that firmly signaled to competitors that KCS is among the strongest crews in the country for NSR this year. Although this crew does not contain any of KCS’s four medal-winning athletes from the Munich Junior International Regatta, their success in smaller boats throughout this season indicates that this will not be much of an impediment. Whether KCS can outperform all the rest for the top spot still remains to be seen, especially given previous performances in this category (second in the B final in 2019). But it should also be noted that the quality of the KCS crew ranks arguably ranks above that of past contemporaries, so one would hope they can put in a better performance.
Walton Rowing Club
A contender from outside the school realm, Walton is well renowned for producing strong junior crews at a national level, with former juniors Matthew Tarrant, Morgan Bolding, and Olympic Silver medalist and boat race winner Angus Groom all wearing the Walton colours with pride at an international level. 5th at Fours Head(Walton is the fastest crew other than KCS to enter this event), a win at Hampton Small Boats in the pairs, and second in J17 doubles as well as victories at Walton Small Boats Head shows that the current crop as a strong as they ever were. A recent bronze at Junior Sculling Head in J17 4x proves that Walton can perform in sculling at the national level. With sweep, we will have to wait and see.
The Kings School Chester Boat Club
The Kings School Chester have firmly placed themselves into the conversation for a medal following their performance at Wallingford, where they pipped KCS by .5 of a second to win bronze. With the winners of the race of that occasion (St Pauls School Boat Club) not having entered the category this year, Kings Chester has a real chance of a medal. The engine of Nathan Wilmot in the two-seat, who has a 2k PB of 6:41.4, will provide a useful boost to a crew that is clearly able to perform when it really matters. Elimination by around 13 seconds in the same category last year will also provide the impetus for a far better result this year. If they can replicate their Wallingford form, a medal should be in store.
Westminster School Boat Club
A school club that has fallen off its peak in recent years, it’s good to see Westminster regain some of the forms that saw them make the PE final in 2015 and win back-to-back NSR Ch8+ titles. 2nd in Coxless at Wallingford and 4th at Schools Head shows that the men in pink are back amongst the best in smaller boats. Gold at NSR maybe is a stretch, especially considering their impressive silver at Wallingford, falling only behind a strong St Pauls crew. Westminster also has a good pedigree in this event, with a silver in 2019 (again falling short against St Pauls). What is clear is that, barring any catastrophes, Westminster should place well at the very least, and at the very best pick up a medal.
Prediction: KCS and Kings Chester both put in strong performances at Wallingford, and based on their seasons thus far, one would expect them to fight it out for the gold. Westminster looks strong enough to claim the bronze but will have to fight off strong challenges from Walton, Molesey and Pangbourne.
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