One rung down from the top championship category, intermediate pairs is, once again, an event that has attracted an eight boat entry (only one fewer than the championship event) and hopefully a high standard of crews. The majority of the entries come from clubs based on the Tideway, which could make for close racing with crews being familiar with this particular stretch.
Quintin Boat Club
A Tideway based club, Quintin’s recent appointment of Ben Lewis as Head Coach is a clear statement of intent as to where they are looking to go as a club. Quintin, like many others had a somewhat disrupted season last year, but still managed to qualify an eight for the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. One member of that crew features in this pair, so points to a reasonable standard, and could make for a fast combination.
Tideway Scullers School
A name that needs little introduction, Scullers are one of the foremost names on the UK circuit, and will be looking to put down a strong early season marker. Given that Scullers have such large numbers year on year, finding anything specific on Randell and Richards has proved difficult, however, given the strength of the system that is in place under Kieran Clark, it would be foolhardy to discount this combination.
Twickenham RC
A club that is becoming more and more commonplace within the UK scene especially with their involvement with the GB start programme, Twickenham’s club athletes will want to make their mark this weekend. One of the athletes listed in this pair, Beamish raced at Scullers Head, placing a respectable 10th in the club event. Provided this combination work well together, this could lead to a decent performance.
London RC
The sole entry from London in this event comes listed under the names of Brooks and Amin. Once again, information for the specific athletes is hard to come by, but, London are a club on the way up, evidenced by the strength in depth of their Henley qualification numbers at the end of last season. Whilst they aren’t the top ranked pair from the club, they will should be a strong crew in this intermediate event.
Dulwich College BC
A junior crew racing in an intermediate event is always one to keep an eye on, as it would suggest they have something to offer, and are looking for a stiffer level of competition than can be found in the junior events. This crew comes under the names of Dembinski and Sanchez Fretz, both from the National Schools’ bronze medal winning boat in second eights last season. Both of these athletes will want to be stepping up into the first eight this season, so a good performance here will be helpful. With junior trials on the horizon, it could also be a useful opportunity to get race experience in a pair.
Predictions
The crews discussed above are those who I would imagine will be looking to feature towards the front end of this field. The other crews in this event come from Derby RC, Putney Town RC and Auriol Kensington RC, but I’m not sure they will have the pace to feature towards the top end of the field. In terms of a top three suggestion, I would pick Dulwich College to win, followed by Tideway Scullers with Twickenham third.
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