The time has finally come for National Schools! Summer racing is at its peak, the weather better and the races shorter. In the Open Coxed Fours event we have a diverse entry of 14 boats from across the UK. It will be interesting to see what kinds of athletes feature in this event. Are they clubs with very small sweep squads or schools with the opposite problem entering all their athletes into any event they can?
Monmouth School
With recent great performances from their coxed four at Nottingham City Regatta, and with a custom carbon back wing shell to boot, Monmouth School’s crew should be a fast contender next weekend. Their eight finished fourth in First Eights at Schools’ Head of the River in March but with no entry into the corresponding category at the National Schools’ Regatta, one can assume that these are some of Monmouth’s premier athletes.
Reading Blue Coat
Reading Blue Coat have entered this boat alongside their eight and a pair. These boys chose to make the step up into Championship Eight racing at the Schools’ Head of the River, finishing 11th in the category. To pitch three crews at senior level is no mean feat and so it will likely be a real test for these boys to contend for the top prize. Blue Coat are a boat club on the rise though – expect a competitive showing.
Canford School
Are Canford on their way back? After a few years in the wilderness, the boys from Dorset have been slowly building a case for inclusion in the upper echelons of junior rowing once again. They were third at the Schools’ Head of the River in Boys First Eights before finishing in the same spot in the Junior Coxed Four category at Wallingford Regatta. The two boats that beat them are not present on next weekend’s starting roster and they also managed to see off both Reading Blue Coat School and Monmouth School by four and five seconds respectively.
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association
With three Scottish internationals on-board, you would be foolish to bet against the boys in black. At the 2023 GB Junior February trials, Magnus Heidenreich recorded 11th, 4th and 13th place rankings with his ASRA teammate Murray Bone putting down two 11th place finishes and a 17th. Whenever this club travel down to Dorney, they boat highly talented crews (two of this crew won the event for Junior 16 Coxed Fours last year whilst the remaining two were fourth in the ‘A’ final of Championship Coxless Fours).
Enniskillen Royal Boat Club
Hailing from not quite the whole way across the pond are the boys from Enniskillen Royal. Last year they put out a strong eight which made it to Henley Royal only to have an unlucky draw and be rowed through by Eton on Wednesday. Having not yet competed in many, if any, events in England so far this year Enniskillen’s speed will remain largely unknown until the time trial on Saturday.
Emanuel School
After a really promising performance on home water at the Schools’ Head of the River – where they placed joint-fifth in the School First Eights category – Emanuel have carved their senior eight in two to boat a coxless and coxed four. It is relatively unclear as to which crew are their leading four athletes but with a competitive eight comes the assumption that you have eight highly competent oarsmen. I think Emanuel have a really good chance of a podium finish here, if this is their top crew.
Hampton School
Hampton’s entry here is peculiar. They were off the boil a little at the Schools’ Head in March, finishing tenth overall in Championship Eights. It looks to me like they’ve pooled some of their best athletes into this boat in the hope of taking home a medal in the slightly less competitive coxed four field. Two of these athletes – Oscar Kelly and Oscar Tejura – won bronze in the Junior 16 Coxed Four last year. Can they upgrade their silverware cabinet in 2023?
Other Entries
With a successful training camp in Spain alongside Teddies and Shiplake, Dulwich College are often overlooked for their sweep squad, but have performed well in the past. Similarly, Yarm School have a huge entry of 13 crews across age groups and in both men’s and women’s events.
Predictions
With no entry to be seen from defending winners Pangbourne, the ownership of the Hedsor Cup will definitely be changing hands this year. Likely podium finishers are Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association, Canford School, Monmouth School, Hampton School, Emanuel School and Reading Blue Coat with my prediction for Aberdeen to take the gold medal this time around.
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