On Sunday 29th January at 10:30, 300 crews from a vast range of clubs and schools will cross swords over 4.4km battle course of the tideway. Running from Chiswick Bridge to Fulham reach this year’s edition will be a mere 180 metres shorter due to structural work at Harrods Wharf. In the women’s junior 16 eights, there has been 12 entries from 7 clubs and schools.
This race will be used to yield some tideway experience for the forthcoming Schools’ Head later on in the season. This is the first chance this year for crews to lay down their positions as a benchmark for 2023 racing.
Headington School
Headington has had an array of exceptional sweep results in the last few years with this squad placed second at the National Schools’ Regatta last year in the J15 8+, demonstrating the high standard of the current J16 squad (albeit accounting for potential crew changes). They also came second at Wallingford Head of the River back in December in this boat class, a pronounced result for an event so early on in the season demonstrating their solidity as a crew especially against likely some of this weekend’s opposition. Although they have remained aloof from many recent events making it hard to predict where they will place, HSOBC will arguably be battling for a top result this weekend and could easily secure the win.
Surbiton High School
Surbiton is a club who have been frequenting the top spots more and more regularly. They came second at this event last year so will be hoping to one-up themselves this time around and win the event. SHSBC had a great run last season placing 1st in the J15 Eight at National Schools’ Regatta. Inevitably the squad may have changed slightly since then but this result will still reflect strongly on the current core J16 squad’s performance. In addition to this, they won Hampton Small Boats Head in the WJ16 Quad recently. Winning in both sweep and sculling events further demonstrates the strength and depth of this crew.
Marlow RC
Another club to look out for is Marlow RC. So far this season Marlow has had some solid junior results including placing 1st and 3rd at Wallingford Head and 3rd at Wallingford Long Distant Sculls J16 Quad. Strikingly, they have entered 2 crews into this category which displays the depth of their J16 squad. They also notably won the J15 coxed four and came 5th in the J15 eight at the National schools’ Regatta last year.
Other crews
Other notable competitors who could prove this wrong are Lady Eleanor Holles who have two crews entered and came 4th in the J15 8+ at National Schools’, Latymer Upper School who came 5th and 6th at Hampton SBH. Strong performances are expected from all of these clubs as they all set the bar high in this first head race of the new year.
Predictions
Considering there are only a handful of sweeping results so far this season and a lack of water training for many due to recent weather conditions, this is a difficult race to predict. I think the top spot will go to Surbiton or Headington and Marlow will place close behind them.
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