With the Junior Sculling Head taking place on Friday the 22nd of March, we are almost at the end of a not-so-busy Head season full of disruption from weather conditions. In the Women’s Junior Quads, 47 crews are entered. This head race takes place at the iconic Dorney Lake where National Schools’ will be taking place later on this year but the course for this race is an interesting one, racing 1800 metres one way then turning and racing the other direction a further 1800 metres.
Headington School of Oxford Boat Club
Well known for their talent across the junior rowing circuit, Headington School Boat Club has entered two quads into this event. This club has recently been very successful at the Women’s Head Of the River Race, winning the Junior category and placing 17th overall with their B, C and D eights all placing in the top hundred battling the Tideway. In addition to this, Headington also placed first at Hammersmith Head in the WJ18 eight and first and sixth in the WJ18 quads a few weeks ago. This demonstrates how Headington has high abilities in both sweep and sculling and if they live up to their recent demonstration of how to dominate a race course, then Headington is looking at a successful race on Friday.
Wycliffe College Boat Club
After reaching the final of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last summer, Wycliffe were in a very impressive position. They haven’t been present at the recent head races in quads so there aren’t many current results to go off but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been training hard. Their early season form was electric, as they swept up medals at both Scullers Head and Pairs Head. They have entered two crews and I expect them to still do well on Friday.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley Rowing Club have been big names in women’s junior rowing for a while and everyone always expects a high standard of rowing from them. At the recent WEHORR, they placed 32nd and 52nd overall and 5th and 9th in the Junior Women’s category so behind the likes of Headington and Shiplake who they will be up against on Friday. Perhaps when sculling in a different environment away from the Tideway it will be a different story and they will regain the edge they had on some of their competitors in the past.
Shiplake College Boat Club
Shiplake Boat Club is renowned for high sculling standards and has demonstrated strong results across both sweep and sculling events recently. For example, they placed 23rd overall at WEHORR and third in the junior category. In addition to this, they reached the semifinals in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup at Henley last year. These results suggest they are a fast squad and will place at this event.
Other notable mentions are Surbiton High School Boat Club, Putney High School Boat Club and Sir William Perkin’s School Rowing Club.
Predictions
I expect Headington School Boat Club A to win this event, followed by Shiplake College Boat Club and then Wycliffe College Boat Club A.
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