With Quintin Head acting as the first tideway race of the new year, it’ll be our yardstick for how different club’s relative speeds may have changed over the Christmas break. Whilst some of the most competitive girls crews aren’t racing, the Quintin draw should still provide an interesting preview for racing throughout the rest of the season.
Henley
With a win in WJ18 8+ at Wallingford Head despite the fact that Henley had entered matched eights, and double wins in JW4x and JW4+ at Four’s Head it is safe to say Henley are firm favourites to take the win on Saturday. With some injury preventing Henley from putting out a top eight yet again, Henley will most likely not have their fastest performance however with the extraordinary depth Henley seem to have this year they should still have a very fast time.
St Paul’s Girls’ School
SPGS have made a good start to the season, putting in a solid time at Wallingford despite some steering issues and will be looking to finish as close to Henley as possible on Saturday. With a slight crew change from Wallingford due to injury, this crew may still struggle to challenge a slightly weakened Henley for the top spot, but should place above the other entries, with three of their top athletes who placed 2nd behind Henley at Fours Head being a key part of this crew.
Godolphin and Latymer
After a fairly successful summer last year, winning silver in Girls 4+ at National Schools Regatta behind Emanuel, Godolphin appear to have turned their focus to an eight this season. They raced at the Head of the Charles in Boston, USA, placing a respectable 28th out of 85 crews entered against some strong US competition, where Headington’s top eight only placed 11th. However with what comparatively seemed to be a much weaker performance at Wallingford Head, Godolphin finished almost a minute behind Henley’s faster mixed eight, leading me to believe that unless Godolphin had some steering/other technical difficulties at Wallingford, they will struggle to get within touching difference of Henley this Saturday.
Emanuel School
Emanuel appear to have entered two mixed eights- an impressive feat considering they didn’t appear to have the depth to boat even one WJ18 8+ at National Schools Regatta last year and instead chose to race Girls 4+, which they then proceeded to win. However despite these strong top end results, I still doubt Emanuel have the depth to compete with any of the top boats listed here.
Predictions:
- Henley
- St Paul’s Girls’
- Godolphin
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