Rutherford Head marks one of the last chances before Christmas for some of the top rowing programmes in the UK to compete against each other. Increasingly this competition has grown in popularity and the level of competition increases every year. This year in the Band 1 Coxed Four category we have four of the top university programmes all with high hopes of taking home the silverware.
Newcastle University BC
Newcastle will be hoping that they can defend their home waters on the Tyne. Last year was a tough year for Newcastle and they will be wishing to start this year confident that they have taken a step on from last year. A win here would be great for the confidence in the programme and the coxed four has long been a boat the Newcastle has shown immense success in.
Durham University BC
The other club racing on home waters, to beat Newcastle here would continue the momentum of last season which was one of Durham’s most successful in many years. While a win here might be challenging particularly if the crews entered are matched, certainly beating the Newcastle crews will be a strong goal.
Edinburgh University BC
Driving down from Scotland this will be Edinburgh University’s second visit to the Tyne in recent weeks after travelling down for the matched racing against Newcastle, Durham and Tyne RC. The fact the Edinburgh has increasingly gone out of its way to find more competition outside of Scotland shows how the programme is continuing to look for opportunities to test itself and increase its competitive standard. After a strong weekend at Inverness Head with a win in open coxed four and knowing somewhat the speed of Newcastle and Durham, Edinburgh will be coming to the Tyne full of confidence.
University of London BC
UL often put on a very strong showing at Rutherford Head and once again will be wanting to travel up in order to win on their rival’s home waters. UL has already shown some speed this year coming fifth in Championship Coxed Four at Fours Head. With conditions possibly looking tricky this weekend though it will be not just a battle against the local competition but also against the conditions.
Prediction
I would suggest that the lone UL crew is favourite here followed by one of the Edinburgh crews. The battle between Durham and Newcastle will be also be exciting and could down to the wire.
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