As days get longer, rivers get slower, and winter season draws to a close, Oarsport’s Junior Sculling Head marks the last time many clubs will descend on Dorney Lake before regatta season begins. Among a massive field of 38 boats, several of the most promising crews will be exhausted from the previous day’s racing at Schools’ Head of the River, opening the field to upsets from lower-seeded boats on fresher legs, and last-minute scores to settle before attentions turn to side-by-side racing.
Wycliffe College Boat Club
The Wycliffe girls have huge shoes to fill in this event following last year’s near-30-second victory over the rest of this field. Having won this event every year since the pandemic, it is this crew’s race to lose. A big week for Wycliffe means they’re seeking to defend both their Schools’ Head and Junior Sculling Head titles on consecutive days, and promising results this season suggest renewing their reign is absolutely on the cards. Peaks include a victory for Lily Anderson and Daisy O’Reilly at Pairs Head and first place for Eleanor Lawrence-Preston at the recent February U19 GBRT Trials. However, this crew will be wary of growing talent across the field who will threaten their winning streak.
Sir William Perkins’s School
The pedigree of top athletes Emily Nicholas and Annabelle Thornton have set Sir William Perkins’s quad up as one of the crews to beat this year. Perkins bested Wycliffe, arguably their closest competition, on their home turf at Wycliffe Head in February and will chase them around the lake this Wednesday. Followed up by 11th place at Women’s Head of the River Race, Perkins are clearly on the up this season and are looking to solidify their position at the top of junior women’s sculling. There may be no statement of SWPS’ intentions this season like disrupting Wycliffe’s three-year record of victory at this race, and their recent performances suggest this is very much a possibility.
Headington School Oxford Boat Club
Best known for their record-breaking eights project, Headington School regularly displays talent across boat classes with a highly competitive quad. Even in what is likely a second boat for Headington, this crew placed second at Hammersmith Head in February and, last year, were just 0.2 seconds off the podium at this race. This entry may well be racing at Schools’ Head of the River on Tuesday and will face the same fatigue as others in the field, but the rigour of Headington’s programme means they’ll be well-prepared to bounce back for round two the next day. Even in a sea of top crews, this Headington quad are functioning at the very highest standard – expect Wednesday’s results to reflect this quality.
Putney High School Boat Club
Despite strong recent seasons in the women’s quad, spearheaded by the crew that represented GB in the Junior 16 fixture against France two years ago, Putney High have turned their focus to sweeping this season. I hope Wednesday’s entry is a return to form for Putney’s top quad, who won the Junior 17 category last year and will look to challenge other established sculling programmes. Putney’s sweep campaign has seen a massive five eights entered in the Schools’ Head of the River, so it’s likely that this quad will share the post-Tideway exhaustion of many of their competitors. I remain excited and hopeful, though, for what they can bring to Dorney on Wednesday.
Henley Rowing Club
The past three years have seen Henley come away from this event with two bronzes and a silver medal – could this be the season they step up to gold? An early-season victory for the quad at November’s Henley Long Distance Sculls suggests so, and with this crew earning themselves a Schools’ Head of the River entry in girls’ championship quads, they will arrive at Dorney as challengers for the very top of the category. Three years ago, when Henley’s quad placed second at this race, they were just 0.1 seconds off the top spot behind Wycliffe College. This time, as the field opens up following Wycliffe’s domination last year, Henley will look to go one better and finally snatch a win.
Tideway Scullers School
Rhona MacCallum’s squad sits consistently at the top of women’s sculling and has gone even further this season with a win at Hammersmith Head in junior women’s quads and a dominant performance at Women’s Head of the River Race in junior eights. With this impressive momentum heading into Schools’ Head, they will surely prioritise Tuesday’s racing in pursuit of a pink flag. However, with seemingly every junior woman racing across Tideway’s seven Schools’ Head of the River entries, it would not be surprising to see their top boat taking to the water once again at Dorney from an unassuming eighth in the start order, perhaps an underestimation of this crew’s true speed.
Other crews
Among the less prolific clubs hoping to disrupt the pecking order are Glasgow Academy Boat Club, who placed fifth in this event last year and will likely have two-time national scull champion Briony Wood onboard, and The Grange School, who are hoping to move up from tenth place in 2024 and have been off to a good start following a win at North of England Head of the River.
Trentham Boat Club starts high up in the order and will seek a competitive result ahead of their regatta campaigns, aiming to break into the A-final at the National Schools’ Regatta.
Royal Grammar School Worcester set off fifth and will seek to challenge the crews around them – talented scullers Lucy Whiteley and Olivia Hodgson will lead a substantial charge.
Royal Shrewsbury School have clear potential in the quad, with serious speed to be translated across disciplines from last year’s National Schools-winning coxless four. Of particular interest are two entries from last year’s silver medallists Shiplake College, who are racing their top athletes in eights at the Schools’ Head of the River, but whose strong programme will likely reflect on their scullers as well.
Predictions
For tradition’s sake, Wycliffe College are this race’s crew to beat. However, notable competitors such as Tideway Scullers and Sir William Perkins’s School will not make Wycliffe’s four-peat an easy task. If Tideway’s entry is indeed their top quad, they could undoubtedly leave with gold or silver in their hands, but until we know for sure, I’m backing Perkins for a narrow victory, Wycliffe with silver, and Headington School Oxford rounding out the podium.
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