With Schools’ Head just around the corner, Reading Uni head will be an extremely good indicator of everyone’s speed coming into the most important race of the Head season. Whilst the 4.6km course isn’t the same length as the 7km stretch of the Tideway raced on at Schools’ Head, it will give crews an opportunity to master the first section of their race plan and will provide the bowman of each crew with an opportunity to perfect their steering on a reasonably winding course with some sharp bends.
It appears some of the most competitive junior clubs, such as Leander and Windsor Boys are racing up a division in the open quads category, undoubtedly to try and face some tougher competition to prepare themselves for Schools’ Head, however this preview will specifically focus on those crews entered in the J18 category.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley have an impressive entry of four quads into this category. With Henley MIA at Hammersmith Head, we don’t have much indication of their current speed. Henley are typically strong in the junior quads category, and with one of their quads entered into Reading Uni Head named under Balthasar Issa, who competed in the quad which placed 5th in champ quads at National Schools’ Regatta last season, this indicates that Henley will have a very fast combination entered into this category this weekend. Additionally, one of their quads is named under “Swinburn”, who managed to place an impressive 11th out of a total of 82 scullers at Wallingford Sculls before Christmas. I don’t know whether the top two combinations entered from Henley will be matched quads, or whether they will be putting out their top crew this weekend, however they will definitely have two extremely strong and fast crews on Saturday. However, I would imagine Henley will be presenting their top combination this Saturday, because of the close proximity to Schools’ Head, and they will be looking to challenge and defeat Windsor Boys and Leander on time to try and intimidate the competition coming into Schools’ Head.
St Edwards’s School Boat Club
It is particularly unusual to see Teddies racing in a quad at this point in the season, as they would normally be training in an 8 for Schools’ Head at this time of year. This is most likely down to a decision by Adam Moffat, the new director of rowing, who may have decided that Teddies’ squad is not strong enough to compete in the champ 8s category this year. This is evidenced by the fact they presented a quad and a four at Hammersmith last weekend. Whilst the four dominated their category, the quad placed towards the bottom of the category, and as the quad entered for Reading Uni Head is entered under the same name as it was as Hammersmith, I would expect a similar result for Teddies this weekend in this quad.
Prediction
Henley to take the win over St Edward’s School in this category. However, I expect that Leander and Windsor Boys will be putting out some strong combinations in the open category, and that both of these clubs could beat St Edward’s and Henley on time, which will give us a good indication of where everyone is at coming into Schools’ Head.
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