The Reading University Head of the River takes place on a 4.6km stretch of the Thames, which flows downstream through central Reading. This year, only two crews have been entered for the WJ16 8+ category, both of whom have proven themselves to be very strong in past races, so I’m sure that it will be an exciting race.
Marlow RC – Fennell
Marlow has a history of producing very strong junior athletes. The junior women’s squad has won at major events including Henley Women’s Regatta, Henley Royal Regatta and National Schools Regatta in recent years, not to mention sending multiple rowers to GB Junior Trials and the Coupe de la Jeunesse match. Most recently, the WJ16 squad has been successful at the British Rowing Junior Championships in 2018, with silver medals in the coxless quad, coxless pair and double for Marlow. In addition to this, Molly Fennell was part of the four which won the W4+ Junior Challenge category at 2018 Fullers Head of the River Fours race. Marlow also won the WJ16 8+ category at 2019 Quintin Head, with a time of 14:10.0, which suggests good competence and strength in the eight, so I’d expect to see a good time from this crew.
Lady Eleanor Holles School BC – White
One of the many successful rowing school clubs, Lady Eleanor Holles School BC has sent rowers to GB J16 and J18 events in the past year, with 2 athletes representing the country at J18 level. An LEH crew raced at 2018 Wallingford Head, coming in 5th place, though with less than a minute between them and the winning Henley crew. This year, LEH entered two crews for the WJ16 8+ event at 2019 Quintin Head. One of these came in second place, only 30 seconds behind the Marlow crew they were racing, and the other came 6th. Overall, LEH seems to do quite well in eights in general, seeing as they were the winners of the category at last year’s Quintin Head, so it will be interesting to see how they do when racing their frequent competitors, Marlow RC.
Predictions
Though I’d imagine it will be a close call between these two crews, I think that the Marlow RC crew may just have the edge over the LEH boat. Nevertheless, I think this is a race whose outcome will depend very much on the conditions both within the crew and on the water on the day.
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