Returning after not being run in the 2020 edition of this race the Open Lightweight Double Sculls is the only weight-restricted event in the Pairs Head and has attracted a modest entry of five crews. And while a couple of the entrants competed in the Scullers’ Head a fortnight previous, this will be the first head race of the winter for most of them. Assuming they make the winter weight limit of 75kg per sculler, they will tackle the 4.5km from Chiswick Bridge to Harrods Wall on the Tideway in London.
Latymer Upper School BC & London RC
Jack Keech and James Sanders provide an experienced pairing as these two have raced together previously, entering the open weight Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, finishing Qualifiers as the seventh fastest non-qualifier. They have got their season off to an early start on the same course, both coming third at the Scullers’ Head in their respective categories (Lightweight for Keech and Masters A for Sanders).
Oxford University Lightweight BC
The Oxford Lightweights are sending two doubles to this race, both from their losing squad at the 2022 Lightweight Boat Race who were seen off by their light blue counterparts. The first of them: Matt Hudson and Harrison Kiefer were in the three and four seats in that eight. They had a very long season in the spring and the summer, starting off with the club’s season goal at the Lightweight Boat Races in March, before racing together in the Lightweight Four and separately in the Lightweight Double at BUCS Regatta at the end of April.
They then raced again, albeit without much success in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in June before jetting out to Istanbul for the European University Games in September on the back of their performance in the four at BUCS. It will be interesting to see how this crew balances competing at this event with building a new strong base for the new season, which is likely to be similarly hectic.
The other boat coming from the dark blues is Zac Abel and Tom Wagstaff, who were in the spare pair in the Lightweight Boat Race in March. This duo hail from Cape Town and Westminster School, respectively, and while not quite matching the schedules of Hudson and Kiefer also had a long last season and will be looking to get into the eight this time around and making a good impression on the Championship Course.
Derby RC
The farthest travelling entrants to the event, Stefano Sigorini and Rowan Campbell-Baker will travel down from the River Derwent to London. This crew have far fewer results to their name but one result of note came in the C Final of the Intermediate Lightweight Single Sculls at this year’s BUCS Regatta, where Campbell-Baker lined up against Zac Abel from the Oxford crew, beating him by more than 13 seconds. Few other results are available for this crew who remain somewhat unknown.
Fulham Reach BC
Even more of an enigma the much-celebrated community club have entered the fifth and final lightweight double in the event, made up from two scullers named Marchesetti and Antar. I could find no information on these scullers online so the quality of this crew remains a complete mystery.
Predictions
I think it would be fair to expect the Latymer Upper/London RC composite to pick up the pennant, with Hudson and Kiefer of Oxford most likely to run them close. As for third place in my eye it is a toss-up as I just don’t know enough about the Derby or Fulham Reach crews in this event to compare them to the other Oxford double.
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