Sometimes I wonder what the reaction would be if, instead of writing about rowing, I started talking about something completely random; like goat breeding, or the recipe for the perfect apple pie… But I think those articles will have to wait for another day.
The Peterborough Head of the Nene is the more pressing matter, one of several big events coming up this weekend, and more specifically, the J18 8+’s.
I will start off by saying that no notable results have come from either Ley’s School BC or Cantabrigian, so I am be unable to comment on how successful they may or may not be.
However, I can comment on the crew from KCS. A decent start to the season saw them coming 28th, 10th and 17th in the IM2 4+, J18 4+ and J18 4x- respectively at the Fours’ Head of the River, and it would seem that they are continuing their mediocrity in to the New Year, finishing 9th out of 19 at the Quintin Head last weekend, an event that is largely made up of matched eights. However, with a second eight entered in to the IM3 category, it is hard to tell if this is a 1st/2nd eight entry, or whether they themselves have decided to enter matched boats. Either way, I can’t seem them contesting for the top spot.
Bedford are a bit more challenging to predict. The only event they seem to have done this year so far is the BASHER Head, where they finished 9th among some fairly stiff competition. However, they haven’t shown their faces at any other major events yet. I predict them to beat KCS, but again, they won’t be reaching for the win.
This is when things become very interesting, let me break it down to you: Latymer have only entered one crew in the whole competition, which would lead me to believe it is their first eight. St Paul’s Sch BC have entered two crews, one under Doyle in to the Senior Eights category, and one under Thorpe in the J18 category. Due to Doyle’s name labelling the Senior crew, I would think that either that is their first eight, or they have entered matched eights. (If anyone has any information they can find me @therowingjesus). This means that the Latymer crew, having won the J18 category at Quintin, beating Paul’s second eight in the process, will either be competing against a second eight, or a matched eight.
My instinct reaction would be that Paul’s will be taking the same format of entering their first boat in to a higher category, while entering their second boat at J18 level, as they did at Quintin. Therefore I am going to predict Latymer for the win, with St Paul’s in second.
Just for the record, if Paul’s have entered matched eights, it will be much more of a tough call, but I’m going to stick to my prediction.
The Rowing Jesus
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