With a small selection of crews this year, the entries for the Women’s coxless fours are dominated by highly experienced athletes from high performance university programs, with a few club additions.
University of Durham
Leading the pack is the University of Durham. With the weight of the BUCS Regatta Women’s VL on their shoulders the pressure is on to perform. It is likely that Durham’s aim is to ‘correct’ their result from last year, being 2nd and 3rd in this particular category. This is another chance to see if the program at Durham continues to strengthen.
University of Edinburgh
One assumes that the University of Edinburgh Boat Club will be aiming to defend last years win. Last year Edinburgh’s win set the tone for the rest of their season in this boat class, winning the championship women’s 4- at BUCS head and A finals in the championship 4- and intermediate 4+ at BUCS regatta. They also won a round at Henley Women’s Regatta in The Cathy Cruickshank Trophy for aspirational academic coxless fours, being knocked out by eventual finalists Oxford Brookes University.
Newcastle University
With the most crews entered into the women’s coxless fours category, two in band one and one in band two, Newcastle University seems keen to show their depth of squad on home waters. They are certainly a shoe in to win in band 2, but band 1 will be nothing short of a battle.
Prediction
The band one race will be close and well fought, and near impossible to predict, although Durham and Newcastle may have the advantage of home waters. In the band two race, Newcastle are certainly the favorites, but I would be great to see some success by the opponents; York City, Nottingham Trent University and Aberdeen Boat Club.
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