Reading University Head of the River is approximately a 4.6km course downstream to Caversham Bridge. There are only four crews entered in the Junior Women’s eights category this weekend; Henley Rowing Club and Tideway Scullers School as well as two crews from St Edward’s School Boat club. As these crews look to showcase their speed as the season of racing continues to fire up, we can expect to see some tight results between these crews.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley Rowing Club will enter this race feeling confident from last weekend’s racing on the Tideway at Hammersmith Head. After finishing in third place with very close margins (only seven seconds separating first and third place) in the junior women’s eight category, we can anticipate that this has set them up very nicely for this weekend’s racing at Reading University Head. Furthermore, this boat has had ample success via their four athletes who competed at the February GB trials in Boston. With two competing in sculling and another two in the sweep discipline, this highlights the skills and talent that the squad has been producing this season. Results included a top-three placing in the women’s doubles division and a fourth and ninth-place finish for the two athletes competing in the women’s pair.
Tideway Scullers School
This crew will be a very exciting watch for spectators attending the Reading course. With the immense success enjoyed last weekend at Hammersmith Head fresh in their minds, this outfit will look to further prove their potential in the run-up to the Schools’ Head of the River. Tideway Scullers also had four athletes competing at the February long-distance GB trials with promising results: a seventh-place finish in the single and Kate Cohalan placing third in the junior women’s double division racing with Henley athlete Chloe Hughes. At Hammersmith Head, the group had crews entered in both the eight and quad categories. An impressive victory in the quad by seven seconds highlights the talent at this club. Additionally, their first eight were entered in the junior category and finished fourth, only ten seconds behind Henley Rowing Club.
St Edward’s School Boat Club
St Edward’s School has two boats that they have entered in this category, highlighting the depth of their squad. Furthermore, they have profited from success via athlete Darcy Murphy, who finished tenth in the junior women’s pair division at the February long-distance trials. Whilst they were absent at Hammersmith Head, this crew had a very successful summer of racing last season, most obviously their second-place finish at the National Schools’ Regatta in the girl’s championship eight category.
Predictions
Overall, I think this category will involve a close battle between all four boats entered. However, I anticipate that Henley might edge out the others, given their success at both GB trials and, most recently, Hammersmith Head. However, we must not overlook the potential of both the Teddies and Scullers boats, as these crews also had extremely successful seasons during last summer’s racing.
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