Only four crews will be taking part in the Junior Women’s coxed fours at Nottingham City Regatta this year, seeding them into a straight final. With National Schools’ only two weeks away this is a great opportunity for crews to gain more experience in head to head racing, ahead of the bigger regattas later on this season. Conditions at Nottingham will, as always, be a huge factor to be taken into account this weekend, crews who are able to stay calm and relaxed into the strong headwinds Nottingham often churns out, will find themselves leading the race.
St George’s College
At the recent Wallingford regatta we saw this junior four competing for the Chamber of Trade cup. They came 2nd in Heat A, only 3 seconds off qualifying for the final behind The Kings School Worcester. The girls from St George’s also competed in the Junior School Eights category, coming 5th in the straight final, only 3 seconds behind fourth. After having two near-misses I’m sure this crew will be stepping on this weekend and will no doubt be on the hunt for gold.
Shiplake College
Last weekend the Junior women’s Shiplake four competed in the Chamber of Trade cup at Wallingford Regatta, they achieved 4th in Heat B and unfortunately didn’t make the final. Although they did not come face to face with St George’s last weekend, they will get the opportunity to battle them at Nottingham and hopefully take back some of the seconds which previously separated them.
Cantabrigian
The Cantabrigian juniors have a particularly strong squad this year. At Schools’ Head of the River earlier on this season the Women’s J18 eight placed 7th, making club history as the first eight to make the top 10 in the last 5 years. In January, the junior women’s four had great success at the Cambridge Winter League, where they achieved the fastest time on the course.
Newark RC
Unfortunately I don’t have much information about the past results of Newark, but I have no doubt there will be a strong performance from these girls as the final preparations for National Schools and Henley Women’s Regatta are well underway.
Each crew entered will be looking to secure the gold medal time and results will most likely be close as all the entries are from extremely competitive clubs. It looks to be an exciting weekend of racing and I can’t wait to see who comes out on top.
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