Scullery is 3600m at Eton Dorney definitely the kick starter for summer racing. Even though it’s the day after Schools’ Head of the river some of the fastest junior women quads are not shying away from the challenge. Successful crews will have to be able to keep a strong mindset and good form, particularly during the spin for the second half of the race over the Dorney course. This race is all the more important this year as it is the same course for NSR so it is the perfect opportunity to see how crews are doing coming into the summer. I am excited to see the outcome of this race especially as many of the crews racing would also have just raced Schools’ Head so it is a real indicator of the crews who are the strongest and able to deal with 2 days of tough racing. I am going to cover the crews I reckon will take top 5 on Friday.
Headington –
After an exceptional result at Women’s Head of the River, Headington are raising the bar for junior rowing again and again. These girls also recently grabbed a win at Hampton Head in the quad, showing their skills are not just exclusively for the eight. They are racing at Schools’ Head in the eight so it will be interesting to see how they cope but I have no doubt these girls will be aiming for the win and I reckon they will be tough to beat.
Marlow –
In a similar position to Headington, Marlow will also be racing an eight at Schools’ Head. However, Marlow have not be such a strong force to be reckoned with this season. It might be down to the loss of some rowers last season as their quad last year just missed out to Gloucester Hartpury for the Diamond Jubilee Sculls at Henley Royal. However, they did place a competitive 5th place at Four’s Head of the River, showing their able to be in the top section of female quads. I am looking forward to seeing how Marlow place as it will be a great indicator of what they are putting out for the summer.
Latymer Upper School –
These girls are making it clear the Junior Women’s quad is what they want to dominate this year, given their entry at Schools’ Head in the quad. At Fours Head of the river these girls placed 6th, 10 seconds behind Marlow. However if their more recent results this season as well as some of their girls appearing in the GB trials circuit shows us anything it’s that they are not content with that result. They’ll be really gunning for a strong result at the Scullery.
Henley Rowing Club –
This is another club which is succeeding at both sweep and sculling. These girls have the best chance at challenging Headington. They placed 12 seconds behind them in the eight at WEHORR but dominated Fours Head this year by winning it by 13 seconds. These girls have shown consistently that they have strong squad depth and are in it to win it.
Sir William Borlase –
Borlase are working hard and moving up the rankings to be in the top 5 junior women’s quads this season. With some decent results put down so far, I’m interested to see whether these girls are able to step it up again in their lead up to summer racing. If these girls can handle two days of tough racing better than their counterparts they could achieve a strong ranking on Friday, given their Schools’ Head entry in the eight.
I predict Headington to take the win, followed by Henley, with Marlow to take third place !
All the best to every crew racing !
Bowball
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