First of all, Happy New Year! We’ve been off the line in terms of previews for a while so I hope January has been a good start to 2014 for everyone! my first preview this year is Peterborough Head of the Nene and the entries are good this year. This event has suffered from bad luck in terms of cancellations over the last few years so lets hope for good weather so we can enjoy some good racing! My preview….
Sen 8+
Eton vs St Pauls. Boom. This is the one I’ve been looking forward to since Alex Henshilwood returned to Eton and St Pauls dominated HOR4. This should be fascinating as its the first proper match-up of the two we have had all season. My understanding is that Eton entered two matched boats into Wallingford Head of the River while St Pauls have established themselves as favourites for SHORR with a series of impressive performances, culminating in a win in IM1 8+ at Quintin last weekend, which is a superb achievement for those boys. The fact that Eton have sent out a crew in Sen 8+ and J18A 8+ tells me these are provisional A and B boats for the winter. I think St Pauls will still be too strong at the moment and will take the win although Star usually turn out a good crew. Round 1 of the Thatcher/Henshilwood battle begins…
J18A 8+
Radley may well have matched their boats although, if they haven’t, I think they’ll be strong. Bedford, under the eye of Pete Mulkerrins, have been very quiet so I’m eager to see what they can produce. They had a good set of J16’s last year and so I’m expecting big things from these boys. I pronounce Pete’s influence as he did amazing things with the Star Senior squad before moving to Bedford [Britannia Cup winners at Henley 2012 and Thames Cup final]. Again, a very hard one to call with nothing concrete to go off. I’m going to tip Radley to take it, if they have an A and B boat.
IM2 4X
No J18 quad event this year so this is a duel between Star and Newark. I’m under the impression that the Newark boat is their Junior crew and so this is another re-run in this rivalry. Star look to have fielded the same quads from HOR4 with the entries appearing under the same name. With Will White onboard Star A, I’d fancy these boys to take the win. They beat Newark twice at the back end of last year and they also have the advantage of being the first boat down the course. Star for the win.
J181x
Only three entries but I think this’ll be a two horse race. Halliday from Peterborough and Youngs from Norwich are both accomplished scullers. Tim Halliday won J171x at Bedford Quarts while Youngs was in the Norwich HOR4 quad. My gut feeling is that Youngs will take this.
WJ181X
This is BGS against the rest of the world. Crawford and Crook are the stand out scullers from the girls school. The top girls from BGS all appear to be entered into elite pairs so we won’t see the prowess of Lottie Bruce or Courtney Osbourne Walker in a single. Adams from Sudbury looks like a good little sculler, coming in 3rd from a field of 21 in WJ16 1X at Bedford Small Boats. Hard to call this but I’m going to give Crook from BGS the call.
That’s all from me. My colleague will hopefully cover the J16 A 8+ at some point along with any others I’ve missed. We’ll look to publish a Hampton preview at a similar time next week. Good luck to all competitors on Saturday and lets hope the race isn’t cancelled!
This photo was taken from: http://www.peterboroughcityrowing.co.uk/peterborough-head-of-the-nene/
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