The last of the ‘Big Three’ head races is the National Sculling Head, also known as ‘The Scullery’. The race is held at Dorney Lake, the venue for rowing at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and consists of two back-to-back 1800m legs. As always, it will be interesting to see how crews manage fatigue if they have raced at WEHoRR and/or SHoRR, which should make for some very exciting racing.
Henley Rowing Club
It will be hard to look past Henley on Wednesday. They have had a formidable season. On the sculling front, they have won in quads at Fours Head and Hampton Head, as well as having singles placing first, second and fourth in the JW17 category at Wallingford Long Distance Sculls. However, this crew may suffer from a bit of fatigue as it is likely that this will be their third race in five days which could mean that some other crews will be a lot closer to them than expected.
Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club
Wycliffe are another stand out club so far this year. They had six athletes at GB trials on the junior women’s side and all of them finished in the top forty. As well as this, they won the quad and had five crews in the top eight at Henley Sculls. Wycliffe may not have as much depth as Henley, though, as they have only entered one crew into this event, but I would still expect them to be in contention for victory. Also, it is potentially interesting to note that this boat is entered as Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club rather than Wycliffe College Boat Club.
Kingston Grammar School Boat Club
Kingston Grammar School Boat Club are perhaps a less well-known name when it comes to rowing, but do not be deceived by this. Last summer, at Henley Women’s Regatta, their J16 quad made it to the final, narrowly losing out to Marlow before winning at the British Rowing Junior Championships, beating two Henley quads by over ten seconds. This season, two of their J17 scullers raced at GB trials, placing fourth and thirty-second respectively. With Marlow not entering a JW17 quad, the KGS quad could be the crew to watch.
Other Entries
Other entries include Tideway Scullers School, Kingston Rowing Club and Sir William Perkins’s School Boat Club. Whilst they may not have had quite as much success this season as some of the other crews mentioned above, it would be foolish to rule them out. However, I think the winner will not come from one of these three clubs, but I would love them to prove me wrong.
Prediction
The race on Wednesday appears to be between Henley, Wycliffe and KGS. Whilst KGS are perhaps the best crew on paper, I notice they have entered at JW18 quad, so I am wondering if their top J17 athletes will be racing in that event rather than this one as their J18 squad is quite small. Therefore, I think it is likely that Henley will win unless KGS have their top J17 athletes in the JW17 quad, but I still think it will be a close race and definitely one to keep your eye on.
Steady Steight
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