The National School’s Regatta will be the Juniors’ primary place to show off what they have been working on this summer and the pinnacle of their racing season where they will be looking to build off of wins and move on from defeats they have incurred in the racing year. NSR provides an excellent opportunity for these athletes to experience what a multi-day, large-scale regatta is like and gives themthe opportunity to race in pretty much every boat class available. For the Junior 15 Coxed Quads, it will be their last year competing in this boat class and across the 1000m course ahead of the transition to the full course next year. Hence this will be an exciting opportunity to see who will place themselves out ahead as they move further on into their junior rowing careers.
Wycliffe
Winning the Junior Sculling Head this year by four seconds, Wycliffe have continued their winning streak, whilst also proving that they can beat the well-known sculling titans of Windsor Boys’ School. Through stamina exhibited there, we can be assured that Wycliffe are up for the task of two intense races in one day hopefully culminating in a gold medal placing finish. Moreover, the crew itself is made up of champions themselves, with the bowman easily winning the single at both the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta and the Junior Sculling Regatta. Though they are (for some reason) setting off third in the Time Trial, I am confident that they will easily improve on that placing for when it comes to the (presumably A) Final.
Windsor Boys’ School
Repeating scenes from their predecessors at Henley last year, Windsor managed an Gold/Silver A final (rather comfortably) at the most recent test of speed, the Junior Sculling Regatta. Though the absence of Wycliffe was notable, this win would have definitely given Windsor the confidence to reassess their situation ahead of this weekend, improving crew morale as well. In their home county, Windsor will have another reason to impress, with their up-and-coming junior squad gathering the building blocks which will hopefully see them reverberate the success of their older teammates in several years’ time.
Tiffin School
Coming in 3rd at the Junior Sculling regatta, Tiffin School are relative newcomers to the podiums, having not raced last year, and kept a relatively low profile since, only coming out of hiding for the JSR earlier in the month. As something we always love to see, Tiffin provides an opportunity to take a breath from the often repetitive leaderboards of racing, acting as excellent role models to the rest of the junior rowers to show that movements like this up the rankings can be done and that the ‘untouchable’ top athletes are maybe not as distant as first thought.
Predictions
I expect it will be a potentially tight race in the coxed quads, where Wycliffe will just pip Windsor to the medal, albeit this could end up with a longer lead if Wycliffe acts as well in regattas as they have in the heads. Although, as the usual public service announcement dictates, any crew could come out of the darkness to take the top spot away from the usual favourites, which is what keeps the sport interesting, and competitors and spectators alike engaged in each race of the season.
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