At last the most eagerly awaited junior regatta of the season has arrived, the National Schools’ Regatta. This category is comprised of crews from ten strong clubs, so there should be some good competition.
Leander Club
After scouring recent junior events, I have yet to find any results from a Leander B quad. However, fragments of this crew have raced recently, with Max Musto stepping up into the winning crew at the Junior Sculling Regatta, hinting that we can expect this crew to have some depth and perform as strongly as their A quad have this season. Since Miles Denning also placed fourth in the B Final at the JSR J17 singles, showing himself to be another solid boat mover, will they have what it takes to punch into the top three?
Great Marlow School Boat Club
Great Marlow have gone from strength to strength so far this season: they had a single swap between their two quads since the Junior Sculling Regatta, where GMS were the second highest performing of the B quads in their category (albeit in the absence of several prominent crews and Leander not entering their A Quad.) GMS will be sure to be building on their success as J16s last year, such as their medal in the 4+, and I hope to see their momentum carrying on into the sculling boats.
Tideway Scullers School
TSS are likely the favourites for the Politzer Cup this year. The quad entered was the crew that placed fifth at the JSR, beating out several A Quads, less than nine seconds off the Gold Medal — an impressive result for a second boat. This shows the depth TSS has developed this year: in good conditions perhaps we will see them approach the NSR record. But no doubt that this race is theirs to lose.
Royal Grammar Sch. High Wycombe Boat Club
This crew was also one of the few who entered the Scullery this year. Whilst missing the cut off to make the finals their B crew performed well and were a mere three seconds off of Great Marlow’s B crew in the time trials. They certainly have the potential to punch into the top spots of the A Final in this category. This program certainly seems to be heading in the right direction.
Predictions
Though you can never be sure with the higher-pressure environment of a national competition, I’d certainly say the odds are in favour of the red and yellow this year. Tideway Scullers have shown their strength punching well above the rest of the field — it would be a shame to see them leaving without some medals. But the rest is certainly all to play for.
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