This is the first time racing has taken place under the new format, which leads us to this split of the junior category into champ and club. Similarly to incentives like the Ball Cup Regatta, this system is a really positive way to encourage competition amongst smaller clubs, where normally the big names seem to totally dominate. This is a large category with 17 entires in the club section alone.
St Paul’s Girls’ School
SPGS have gone from strength to strength in recent years, and whilst they are yet to find themselves in medal positions at major events such as National Schools in this age group, they’ve had some strong performances. Their top quad last year placed 6th at NSR and qualified for Henley Royal, demonstrating good development in their sculling. These girls look to be part of their J16 8+ last year that placed 5th at NSR, so it will be interesting to see how they fare with the step up to J18 level, but with the split into champ and club, they stand a good chance of placing fairly well.
Putney High School
Putney High have also been developing well through the last few seasons and they have a wealth of crews entered on Saturday in both pairs and doubles. PHS sent the coxless four to GB France back in the summer, so some of this age group have already shown some real power. Their J18 4+ at National Schools only placed 6th in the A final, but given the performances of last year’s J16 cohort I would expect their top double to put out a good performance in this category.
Emanuel
Emanuel always seem to have large numbers of students participating across both their men’s and women’s squads, which is great to see. Emmanuel entered a J162- last year at Hampton SBH under this name which placed 3rd, so it will be a test of whether these girls can both scull and sweep to a good standard. Whilst, like King’s Ely, Emanuel have a top double entered in champ, the category split opens the door up for other athletes to compete against others with similar points to them. Emanuel’s J16 8+ were 6th at NSR, just behind SPGS, so there promises to be good competition between these girls.
King’s Ely
King’s Ely had some good performances last year and seem to have spent most of this sculling. At Hampton SBH, they put out a J172x placing 6th and a J162x placing 4th, so these year groups combined should be in a position to perform well. Their J16 quad also placed 5th at NSR, so with their sculling experience I’d expect them to be competitive here with their two entries in club doubles.
Although I expect the above mentioned clubs to be the ones to watch for the top spots, this category also features entries from Medway Towns, North Staffordshire, Worcester, Llandaff and Maidstone Invicta Rowing Clubs, with multiple entries each from some of these which is lovely to see, as well as from Rob Roy and Fulham Reach Boat Clubs. Another really great thing to see tying in with this new racing format is an entry from Fulham Reach, who have done brilliant work in increasing accessibility to rowing and racing for local state school students.
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