The weather may still be telling us a different story but summer is well underway and so soon will be one of the largest regattas of the year – National Schools’ 2024! Compared to 22 entries last year, Championship Girls Coxless Fours only has an entry of 16 crews for this year. Populated by smaller, but equally high-performance clubs, each athlete will benefit from strong mental resilience in this event.
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association
This crew will be representing the Scottish youth of rowing. Aberdeen has not entered crews for this event last year but the comprehensive training programme and access to top-tier facilities along the River Dee should be a good base for the coxless four on Sunday time trial. We often see ASRA at big competitions, like Henley Women’s Regatta, and just last year their entry into the Prince Philip Challenge Cup at Henley Royal became the first ASRA crew to make it through one round of the competition. Their women’s sweep programme is fast developing, with crews often representing Scotland at international competitions, so don’t overlook them next weekend.
Headington School Oxford Boat Club
Headington School is known for their major successes in both sculling and sweeping boats. However, with their strongest athletes being in the first eight it is exciting to see whether the other crews will keep the standard, a measure of their squad depth. With the freshness of the J17, paired with the experience of J18 Emma Noble, who came third in the 2nd 8+ event last year, this crew is looking strong, experienced, and highly competitive.
Royal Shrewsbury School Boat Club
A school from far, far away Royal Shrewsbury School are always around in the junior circuit, a name familiar with top podium places and large competitions. After coming third at National School’s in this event last year, and winning the same boat class at Wallingford Regatta earlier in the 2023 season, last year’s crew looked extremely strong. This year’s crew only came fourth, out of six entries, at Wallingford showing they may be somewhat behind their predecessors. However, the crew for this year contains some international representatives for GB, since two out of the four members competed at Home International Rowing Regatta in the summer of ’23 – so don’t count this crew out!
Other crews
Other crews that cannot be missed are Sir William Perkins’s School Rowing Club, Kings School Chester and Wallingford Rowing Club.
Predictions
A final will be a tough and eventful fight between Shrewsbury, Headington and Sir William Perkins. It is only on the day that these crews will be able to fully show their potential. However, I think that the Shrewsbury crew may secure a first place after last year.
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