It’s that time of year again. The start of another season and the chance to do it all again. As the glow of HRR fades, the harsh prospect of the head season takes its place. The opponent is now not just the other crews but also against the clock. Small boats are now placed at the front of the pack as crews compete along the unforgiving stretch of water that is the Tideway. With this being the first race since 2020, the crews will no doubt be raring to go.
London RC
One of the oldest and most respected rowing clubs in the country, LRC had a successful HRR campaign, where they made the club’s first final in some years, losing to their local neighbours Thames RC.
Presumably looking to prioritise improvements in sweep events, LRC has just the one double in this category, made up of half of their Prince of Wales quad who made semi-final before falling to Leander. Former Edinburgh University sculler and World U23 medalist Matt Curtis is joined by Rui Xu, winner of Scullers Head who placed sixth at the Canadian Small Boats Trials in May.
Both clearly have pedigree in small boats, and having already proved themselves as a combination in a quad, one would expect great success in the double. One of the main contenders to take home the win in this event.
Reading University BC
With its recent success and reputation, Reading University has the luxury or laying claim to some of the best young scullers in the country. Like London, Reading also made it far in the Prince of Wales, but went one better finishing as runners up to Leander. Half of that quad returns to do battle as part of the two Reading crews entered in this event.
Josh Lyon, who sat at bow for that final and went on to earn an U23 GB vest in the quad, and who recently placed second in U23 Men’s Single at Scullers’ Head (ninth overall) joins forces with Jacob Parrington in the first entry. They are joined by two further members of the Prince of Wales quad, former GB junior Louis Powell and Christchurch RC’s own, Sol Hewitt.
The two boats will certainly be in the hunt for the win and the battle against each other will be as interesting as their battle for the title.
Upper Thames RC
Upper Thames RC, ever present in the hunt for medals at any rowing event, present the most likely challenge to Reading and London’s dominance of this event. Mike Scott of their Britannia Challenge Cup four who made it through Henley’s first ever Tuesday joins together with Marlow Regatta bronze medalist Tom Foster to create a double that is certainly worthy of a high finish.
Whether they can challenge Reading and London for the win is debatable, but a good race is likely to be in the offing.
Prediction
London and Reading look the strongest two out of all the crews, so I would expect them to dominate. Of those two, London seem to have the slightly better recent form in sculling but Reading will be no pushover, so I would expect a close one. Upper Thames may be a dark horse but unless they pull something out of the bag, it will London or Reading’s to lose.
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