The first head race on the championship course this season. In March it will host the School’s Head of the River, the pinnacle of the head racing season. But this Saturday will see the Pairs Head take place. This category is dominated by entries from St Paul’s, but expect them to face stiff competition from fellow championship 8’s school Shiplake College.
St Paul’s School
St Paul’s has six entries in this category, with their first entry being SPS-Parish, I expect this to be a combination of Oliver Parish and Tom Horncastle, both of whom rowed in their record-breaking first VIII last year, and picked up gold medals at the Junior World Championships last summer in the JM8+. With this pedigree behind them, I expect them to be the fastest Paul’s entry and serious contenders to take the win. Other notable entries are SPS-Valt and SPS-Taylor, both of these two rowers, Dominic Valt and Milo Taylor were in the St Paul’s J16 VIII that won a silver medal at the National Schools’ Regatta last year and they will be keen to step on in what is a competitive senior squad at St Paul’s. Taylor is also joined by George Langstone-Bolt, another member of last years J16 crew, whose brother Alex was a member of last years first VIII.
Shiplake College
The only other Boat Club with multiple entries, Shiplake are one of the favourites to challenge St Pauls’ dominance this year. I presume SHP-Brown is Dom Brown, who stroked Shiplake’s 1st VIII to an impressive Bronze Medal at the National Schools’ Regatta and the Friday of HRR. I would not be suprised if this was their top pair and expect to see this entry towards the top of the cateogry, though beating the Horncastle/Parish combination will be tough. Their other three entries SHP-ASH, SHP-Hjortland-Marks and SHP-Brockway are from their J16 VIII who won gold by a five second margin at NSR last year and qualified for the Temple Challenge Cup at HRR this year. They will be up against their old rivals from last year’s St Paul’s J16 VIII and will want to maintain the status quo after their convincing win at NSR.
Walton Rowing Club
Walton have a good reputation for Pairs rowing, and with WLT-Heywood being their only entry, I expect it to be fast. The names suggests that it is Matthew Heywood, who raced in the Men’s Pair at GB Vs France when he was a J16 and won a Bronze Medal in Championship Pairs at NSR this year. It is diffcult to know their speed in relation to the Shiplake and St Paul’s top pairs though, as they tend to race in different categories. While I think they will finish above some of the Shiplake and Paul’s entries, I don’t expect them to have enough speed to challenge the top entries from these two schools.
Norwich School Boat Club
Norwich have titled their entry NSC-III, so there is no clear indication of who is in this pair. Though it is worth mentioning that a Norwich Pair finished 6th in Champs Pairs at NSR last year, though they were a good 2o seconds off the pair from Walton. Summer is always a good time to gain speed, and the tideway is certainly different to Dorney, but it will take a remarkable turnaround for them to finish at the top.
Prediction
I can’t see past a win for SPS-Parish in this event. Though I don’t doubt that they will be pushed by SHP-Brown and WLT-Heywood. The competition between the J17 pairs from Shiplake and St Paul’s will be an interesting affair – last year’s J16 gold medalists are proven winners, but St Paul’s will have the homewater advantage and intimate knowledge of a course that is notorious for rewarding good steering, which leads me to believe that they will come out on top this time. Good luck to all racing.
TidewaySweeper
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