It’s that time of year again (finally!) for hundreds of juniors, boats and trailers to descend on Eton Dorney and enjoy a weekend of great racing. This coxed four category is one of the top events of the weekend, because it is also one of the events that is included in Henley Women’s Regatta in just over a month. It is interesting to see the clubs and schools that have decided to enter into this category and the results of this will set the stage for the rest of the season and provide an excellent comeback to racing.
Putney:
Putney has continued to grow in strength over the last few years, and they are particularly strong in the sweep events. This crew includes some of the competitors from the J15 eight at NSR in 2019 and the B final winning J16 coxed quad from the same year. When Putney are performing well they have great potential, and a good reputation in events such as this. The J16 four missed out on qualifying at HWR in 2019, so this will be an excellent opportunity to begin the journey to improving this result.
Marlow:
Another club that is no stranger to achieving excellent results is Marlow. They not only have a stellar reputation but they continue to perform up to standard, this will make them a crew to watch going into this race. Checkly and Newman both had successful NSR in 2019, in a J15 quad and a J16 eight respectively and it was a Marlow crew that won the J16 coxed four event at Henley Women’s most recently. With a long history of winning at both HWR and Henley Royal, Marlow look strong going into this race.
Henley:
If we’re talking about clubs with good reputations, Henley has one of the best and at the moment, no Championship category is complete without them. They won the J18 coxed four category at Henley Women’s in 2019 and will certainly want to continue the winning streak. In 2019, it was a Henley J16 eight that won the category at National Schools’, this illustrates their prowess in sweeping events and if they can translate this into this boat then they will be very strong competitors.
Tideway:
Without meaning to sound like a broken record, this is yet another club with a great history of winning at these events and being ones to watch when the boats line up at the start. Tideway have been high achievers in recent years, in the 2019 season their J18 coxless four won at fours head and they performed well in the coxed four and eight category at Henley Women’s. This is a club that always comes out in force and walks away with the medals that show they are highly impressive competitors, and they have a good track record at NSR.
Enniskillen:
Breaking up the field of local schools and clubs, is the Northern Irish club Enniskillen. They spend most of the season competing in Ireland, which always means when it comes to big races such as this, they are more of an unknown. Last year two of the rowers who are in this crew, Little and Kernaghan, were also in the J16 coxed quad that won the category at NSR. The club also took two crews to Henley Royal and both of them qualified. This is a club not to be overlooked.
Predictions:
After a tumultuous year, it is fantastic to see so many clubs and schools showing up to race at NSR and after a year off it will be a weekend to remember. As for this category, I think the winner will be found amongst these crews, possibly between Enniskillen, Marlow and Henley. Other crews to look out for are the LEH boat and perhaps the Emanuel boat. Overall, I’m sure there will be some very exciting racing and good luck to all crews!
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