The Oarsport Junior Sculling Head is one of the most well-known and prestigious races in the junior calendar. With its unique format of 2x1800m runs on Dorney Lake with an untimed turn it is certainly something a little different to a conventional head race. 35 Quads are due to race on Monday!
Leander Club
Very much the crew to beat this season is the JM4x from Leander. Winning at the Fours Head and Schools’ Head it seems no one is able to get close to this crew. Comprised of numerous top GB junior trialists they really are the best of the best. To back up their impressive ‘A’ crew they also have a very strong ‘B’ crew who are more than capable of challenging for a third place.
Windsor Boys School Boat Club
The infamous club of Windsor Boys have had a rather disappointing season thus far, not racing at Fours head and a lowly 17th at Schools’ Head makes me wonder if they haven’t got a depth or strength of previous years when they dominated the sculling scene. Regardless a few below average results do not mean they will stay here for the rest of the season. I am confident that they will come back by regatta time and be a force to be reckoned with.
Sir William Borlase
Borlase will be hot on the heels of the Leander quad going off second. A little bit of a bogey club with some very mixed results in recent seasons and a while since their last podium challenging crew. None the less they are never a club you can write off and they are a potential medal winning crew.
Other mentions
The likes of Kingston, Molesey and Henley all have crews entered and will all be looking at the top 5 places which are definitely possible. We field full of top quality junior quads from clubs right across the country which will make Monday’s race even more exciting!
Predictions
I think I can confidently say this is Leander’s to lose, with Windsor looking to be off the pace and no Marlow crews entered. Silver however is definitely up for grabs and could go to any number of crews. Could Leander get a double podium? Certainly possible.
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