National School’s 2022 is right around the corner and would not be complete without J15 Women’s eights, an event that has an enormous entry of 18 crews from clubs around the country. This event is making a return for 2022 after its absence in the reduced regatta of 2021.
Marlow Rowing Club
Marlow RC are of course one of the oldest and strongest clubs in the country, based on the beautiful Marlow stretch of the Thames in Buckinghamshire. At the Junior Sculling Regatta Marlow’s girl’s J15 squad entered four crews, two of which made it through to their A finals placing sixth and second. At the Schools’ Head in the same category Marlow’s eight placed fourth against fairly much the same competition.
Wimbledon High School Boat Club
Another of the London girl’s schools, Wimbledon boasts a number of podiums at NSR as well as qualification at Henley Royal Regatta in 2021. At the WJ15 eights event at Schools’ Head this year Wimbledon’s crew placed third against tough competition from Lady Eleanor Holles and Surbiton High, with a narrow margin of only five seconds between them and second.
Henley Rowing Club
Based of course on the Henley Royal Regatta course, Henley RC have had great success in junior women’s rowing recently. This year’s girls senior 1st eight has gone practically undefeated from School’s Head to the Junior Sculling regatta. The J15’s competed against a number of their coming competition at SHORR in March where they placed fifth, one place behind Marlow RC.
Lady Eleanor Holles Boat Club
Hailing from Hampton just outside London, Lady Eleanor Holles are yet another on the long list of high-performing girls rowing schools. Their J15 squad raced well this year in the winter season, topping it off with a second place finish at Schools’ Head.
Headington School Oxford Boat Club
Female counterpart to the traditional Oxford rowing boys schools, Headington have had a consistently strong squad this year. Last year of course they were the first ever winners of the new Junior Women’s eights event at Henley, and the squad has carried that momentum into this season placing both their J18 and J16 eights second at the Schools’ Head earlier this year as well as a number of good performances at smaller heads in the winter season.
Surbiton High School Boat Club
Surbiton High School have established themselves as one of the premier female rowing institutions in the country. At the Schools’ Head this year they used their tideway experience to their benefit, placing in the top five of every single event they entered. The J15 squad won the first eights event by a massive margin of nearly 40 seconds and gained both first and second place in the second eights event. Their senior first and J16 eights both placed third in their events. Clearly a fearsome force on the tideway their crews at National Schools’ this year are definitely not to be overlooked.
Entries into this event also come from Bedford Modern School, Bedford Girls School, Royal Shrewsbury School, Nottingham and Union Rowing Club, Mossbourne Rowing Academy, Norwich School, Kings School Chester, Emanuel School, Sydenham High School, Putney High School, Latymer Upper School and Sir William Perkins’s School.
Predictions
Returning from a year’s absence the competitive spirit amongst these crews is sure to be at an all-time high. High performing clubs and schools will both certainly be in close competition for spots in the A final and on the podium, with Surbiton High, Headington and Wimbledon almost certainly making the top six and placing highly. Following them will also be fast crews from Lady Eleanor Holles as well as Marlow and Henley Rowing clubs.
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