Pairs Head provides a novel opppourtunity for the best school and club rowers in Britain to hone their skills against each other, before the move into larger boats at Fours Head and the start of eights in the new year. Nowhere is this competition more pronounced that the J18 2-. One glance down the list of schools in this category, which include St Pauls, Norwich and Westminster to name a few, gives an indication of the quality of the crews that will head to the Tideway this weekend.
St Pauls School Boat Club
With a grand total of nine entrants to this event, St Pauls School Boat Club have a certain numerical supremacy in this event. However, numbers are not everything. St Pauls had three boats in the field last year in the Op2x and Op Junior 2x and Op Junior 2-, winning one and coming second in the other two. This proves St Pauls can do well with very little entrants, but what about the reverse. One to watch amongst the white and black contingent are Jonathan Catmull and Marsonner Sebastien. Both were medallist’s at NSR 2021, coming third to Eton and KCS, a feat they one-upped not long after at Henley. A good showing by both at Wallingford Sculls, (where Catmull won the J18 1x by twenty seconds and Sebastien finished 3rd in the same event and later took 1st in the J18 4x race) proves that these two are title contenders and ones to watch for the future. The First VIII patnership that Sebastien and Catmull provide is matched by another from St Pauls, namley Mrinaank Chilkoti and Alexander Henke in the 2nd 8+. Unlike the medals enjoyed in the boat above, the 2nd 8+ finished a distant fifth at NSR, behind Abingdon, Dulwich, Shiplake and Eton. The same occured in 2019, in a crew that included Fred Gillard, who won the Op2x at 2020 Pairs Head with Felix Kwok, now representing the crimson of Havard. Although there results are uninspiring, the season will have provided a clean slate for Henke and Chilkoti to put their demons to one side and focus on placing well. An 8th and a fith place in the J18 1x at Wallingford was a good start. Now they must build. A final mention must also go to Barnaby Ruselll and Issac Thromsby, who are competing in one of their first races as J18’s, and whose work and dedication to compete in a field of this quality should be praised. St Pauls have the ability to both win and place well, but the competition is stiff.
Dulwich College Boat Club
Fellow London based club Dulwich College Rowing Club showed signs at the backend of last season that they are able to compete in a rowing battle for the prize of “The Best in London”. A bronze medal in the 2nd8+, and a second place in the B final by the Ch8+ shows that the club is heading in the right direction, despite early exit’s at Henley in 2019 and 2021. The bow and four seat of that 2nd8+, Benedict Miliken and Oliver McMinnnies, will take heart from the fact that they beat three members of St Pauls crews rowing in the J18 2- this weekend (Chilokti, Henke and Nico Zezza). But as their performance at Wallingford Sculls proved, the past is of little consequence. It will be intresting to see how Dulwich perform this weekend. Placing well will provide a good base for a season that will hopefully build on the one before. Only time will tell.
Westminster School Boat Club
Possibly the biggest challenge to St Pauls winning the event comes from an all too familair source: Westminster. A win for Max Peel in J17 1x, and solid placings of 4th for Kelvin Wong and 8th for Theo Budgen got the season off to an ideal start. All three were members of a J16 8+ final at NSR 2021 where St Pauls were not present. However, we must not get too carried away. They are all racing in the J18’s this time and against opponents that have proved to be very fast and very strong. However, if the results in the singles are anything to go by, they should be alright to place well and at the top end compete for the title. Peel teams up with Alex Lacorzana, who finished last in J171x at Wallingford, but will have to put that behind him, as he teams up with a sculler argubly in the ascendencey. Perhaps it will be the making of them.
Predicitions
This will be a tight one, but based on previous form I would back St Pauls to get the job done in this race, espically given the showing of Catmull and Sebastien as of late. Westminster should form the strongest challenge to St Pauls in this event, in particular Lacorzana and Peel. Dulwich have an outside chance of placing well, providing they stick to a good race plan and row their own race. Otherwise, expect challenges from KCS, Walton and Emmanuel.
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