On Saturday 29th January 250 crews from a vast range of clubs will battle it out over 4.6km of the tideway, from University Post to Harrods Wharf. In the J16 Women’s 8s this year Quintin Head has had 12 entries from 10 clubs and schools.
Headington School Oxford Boat Club
Coming from an incredible summer performance by their senior squad Headington School enter one J16 crew into this event. Their senior eight finished last summer having won the brand-new junior women’s eights event at Henley Royal Regatta as well as the Peabody cup at Henley Women’s Regatta. The very same first 8 also managed to win their event at Marlow regatta earlier in the year, crossing the line a massive 12 seconds ahead of the next crew. Definitely a strong squad, their J16 crew will surely be a crew to watch this weekend.
Henley RC
At Wallingford Head this season Henley’s Juniors girls put in some incredible performances in icy conditions, gaining four outright wins a 2nd and 3rd place and three crews unopposed in their categories from only nine entries. The two fastest women’s junior eights were Henley’s J16 and J18 crews respectively, who finished 39 seconds ahead of St Edwards and placed 10th and 11th out of all the competing women’s eights. At the new Junior Women’s eights event at Henley last year, Henley RC made it all the way to the semi-finals before being beaten by Headington School. Competing with some very closely matched clubs, they will definitely be amongst the best crews to watch this Saturday.
Lady Eleanor Holles School
One J16 crew enters from Lady Eleanor Holles School, a high-achieving rowing school for girls. This summer their 1st eight raced at NSR and managed to repeat their 2019 performance, winning the A final, winning by hair against Henley RC. The senior squad also entered a coxed four at NSR which performed well, coming 5th in the A final against tough competition such as Tideway Scullers School and Henley RC. Not to be missed, their J16 squad made their first ever A final in the women’s eights and placed sixth, narrowly losing out to strong schools such as Putney High School and Surbiton High School. Lady Eleanor Holles’ senior squad also performed very well at the new Henley event this year making it all the way through to the semi-finals before succumbing to Surbiton High School. Surely looking to get the edge over their NSR competition Lady Eleanor Holles will definitely be a strong crew to watch this weekend.
Emanuel School
Although Emanuel’s quads did not perform very well at the fours head this year, their sweep squad shows a lot of promise coming 4th out of 15 coxed fours and beating plenty of their coming competition, including Lady Eleanor Holles, Putney High School, St Paul’s Girls School and Godolphin and Latymer. They were however beaten in this event by the vastly powerful squad at Henley RC, surely looking to maintain their wins over the other schools as well as taking a stab at Henley Emanuel’s eight will be a great crew to watch
Surbiton High School
Surbiton High School seniors were one of the many crews who did very well at last years new Henley event, making it all the way through to the final having beaten Sir William Borlases, Green Lake (USA) and Lady Eleanor Holles before being tragically defeated by Headington by three and three-quarter lengths in the final on Sunday. This Saturday Surbiton High is entering two J16 eights into the tough field, certainly looking to maintain their wins over Lady Eleanor Holles and Henley but can they beat Headington?
Godolphin and Latymer School
Two J16 crews enter from Godolphin and Latymer School. Recently their senior girls eight performed very well at Teddington head finishing 4th against some very strong competition who they will be racing again on Saturday, Surbiton High School and St Paul’s Girls School both beating them by significant margins. Godolphin and Latymer also performed very well in the coxless fours, beating Tideway Scullers school by a second.
Putney High School
Putney High School’s seniors were another of the crews who competed at Henley last year, unfortunately they were drawn against the very strong Henley RC in their heat and did not make it past Wednesday, they did however put in a very strong performance only losing by one and ¾ lengths. If their J16 crew can follow in their footsteps they will definitely be in for a strong result on Saturday.
St Edwards School
St Edwards have recently had a very strong men’s senior eights program beating very strong crews at both NSR and Henley in the summer. Their girls senior squad performed extremely well on the tideway at fours head this year, coming 9th out of 41 crews and beating some very strong clubs such as Marlow, Henley and Tideway Scullers School’s B fours. Coming from a strong squad on the whole the J16 eight from St Edwards can certainly be expected to perform well.
Other crews
Maidenhead RC enters one eight and St Paul’s Girls School enters two crews. A very strong club and school respectively can assuredly provide some good competition for the other clubs.
Predictions
I think that Henley and Headington will be extremely similar for time, although Henley are clearly a very strong head racing squad, Headington are undeniably in a massively strong position at present and will definitely be a tough crew to beat. For 3rd and 4th I think that Surbiton High School will be tough to beat and St Edwards and Lady Eleanor Holles will definitely put in strong performances.
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