Pairs Head of the River 2024 – Junior Open 18 Doubles Preview

With many southern parts of the Thames on red-board after the heavy September rain a race on the Tideway is an opportunity for some clubs to finally get out on the water. The race’s organising committee put out a statement regarding the record number of entries, with the junior events filling up within three hours. The course itself is an abridged version of the championship course, ending at Harrod’s Wall instead of at Putney. As with any race on the Tideway, the quality of steering will be equally as important as that of rowing, especially in such light and small boats. With some big names entered we’re in for some exciting racing!

Marlow Rowing Club

Based on the Thames, I don’t doubt that the two doubles from Marlow Rowing Club are eager to get on the water and do some racing. Both doubles are rowing an age category up, as all four participants are Junior 17s, so it will be interesting to see how they rack up against the older competitors. The crews showed incredible results last year, coming second in the B-final of the Open Junior 16 Quads at the National Schools’ Regatta. The same crew achieved a commendable sixth place at Oarsport Junior Sculling Head. However, the quad has now divided itself into two boats for this race, so it will be good to see some friendly competition between crewmates. 

Wycliffe College Boat Club 

Wycliffe College Boat Club do not race too often, so it’s always hard to judge their performance compared to other crews. However, I can confidently say they will compete for one of the top spots in this race. National Schools’ Regatta was one race where we saw them, with Fullman proving his strength and competing in two age categories up in the championship single division, achieving a very impressive third place as a Junior 16. 

Cambridge 99 Rowing Club

The double of Hayhurst and Girman from Cambridge 99 Rowing Club has proved their rowing expertise consistently with their impressive performance at multiple points throughout last year, most notably at National Schools’ Regatta, where they came seventh in the A-final. They saw a similar result at the British Rowing Junior Championships, where the double placed second in the B-final. Although relatively unknown in the rowing world, I think this is a strong crew that will put up a good fight for the podium, simply due to their ability to produce consistent results and the fact that this is a double that has rowed and, I assume, trained together much longer than the other competitors, which are larger boats divided or crews mixed around. 

Bewl Bridge Rowing Club

More friendly competition will be seen between the two top doubles from Bewl Bridge Rowing Club, where predicting who will come out on top will be a struggle, as the performing double from last season has split into two different boats: Ribbens/Ribbens and Tyrell-Clark/Whitehead. Nevertheless, the results of the Ribbens/Tyrell-Clark double shouldn’t be undermined, as third and fifth in the A-finals of the National Schools’ Regatta’ and British Rowing Championships, respectively, is no easy feat for anyone. 

Prediction

There are a lot of incredible crews racing, so making a prediction will be difficult, but I think that one of the Bewl Bridge doubles will take the first place on the podium, followed closely by Wycliffe and the other Bewl Bridge crew, simply due to the strength and past results of those three boats. The top three will be closely followed by Hayhurst and Gurman from Cambridge 99, who will act as the underdogs of this race. I would love to see either of them or one of the doubles from Marlow take a place on the podium.

About The Author

vladmrows

See author's posts