The new year of Tideway head racing kicks off with Quintin Head, after a hiatus mostly due to extreme weather, be it wind or flooding (or an extremely unfortunate combination of the two). These instances have been the complaint of many rowers, as beautiful sunrise paddles are hastily transformed into long, melancholic erg sessions. Even so, we hope that this Sunday’s Head will be able to prevail through the past conditions and provide an excellent benchmark of crews’ efforts on the tideway for the up-and-coming Eights Head Of The River, Women’s Head Of The River and School’s Head all in March.
The first crew in the J15 Eights category to set off down the 4400m course from Chiswick Bridge to Fulham Reach will be Westminster School’s Alpha”, with both the club’s J15 boats ditching the typical ‘A’ and ‘B’ for the more eloquent ‘Alpha’ and ‘Bravo’. Their individual success as a club has been proven on the stretch, achieving second place at Scullers’ Head in the Junior Schools category, however, more recently their junior crew placed 27th at the fours head this year. Even so, with a new batch of rowers setting up the year’s eight journey, they will be looking to set a new precedent for what is to come. And after all, they are setting off first meaning that the organisation committee putting together the start order must know something about Westminster’s speed that has been left out to our part.
Chasing them down, Monmouth School will be hoping to overtake as soon as possible to create as large a gap as they can between them and Dulwich College who leave the start line 3rd if they want a good chance at winning. Based in the picturesque Welsh town of the same name and rowing on a truly stunning stretch of the river Wye, Monmouth has a bit of a way to travel to get to the race on Sunday, but this hasn’t stopped them from achieving great success in the past at London-Based heads and regattas, racing at Henley Royal and placing well at the National Schools’ Regatta, coming 3rd in the B final for in the coxed four. With an excellent rowing programme and several GB rowers as alumni, Monmouth are in with a very good chance of coming away victorious this Sunday.
With such an exciting boat name (‘King’s College School ‘Dragon Slayer’), it’s hard to leave King’s off the list, with a very impressive track record from last year, sending 4 rowers to the Coupe De La Jeunesse in Spain as well as pushing an eight through into the A final of the National Schools’ Regatta, coming away with a well-deserved bronze medal. This was then followed up on the Sunday by a gold medal to add to the collection, showing that King’s really do have a passion for sweeping, as well as a strong coaching base on this part too. With the previous results and intimidating names like no others (their second boat similarly comedically named ‘monster munch’ and third fiercely called ‘stormforce’), I would put King’s firmly in the running for the top 3 at this year’s head.
Aside from the eye-catching crew names, this year’s entry is going to be one to watch. Especially as it will be a benchmark before March’s blast of racing with the three biggest head races of the year. With King’s College School having so many boats, with most schools and clubs barely able to get one eight out, let alone three, one of them must have the spark to make a name for the club in the J15 category. Possible podium placers; Monmouth, Dulwich and Westminster are sure to be close competitors for the victory but, as always, you can never discount any crew in the ever-turbulent sport of rowing!
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