Rutherford Head of the River will take place this Saturday on a 4500m course that runs from Scotswood to Newburn. The WJ18 Quads category has eight entries from Tyne United Rowing Club, St Andrew Boat Club, Durham Amateur Rowing Club, Sunderland City Of Rowing Club, Tees Rowing Club, Durham School Boat Club, George Heriots Rowing Club and Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association.
Durham Amateur Rowing Club
Durham Amateur Rowing Club came first at South Hylton Long distance sculls in October in the Women’s Quad and again at Durham Autumn Small Boats Head in the Women’s J18 Quads. Additionally, at Durham Long Distance Sculls, their Women’s J18 Quad placed second. This puts them in a good position for the weekend and suggests they are one of the stronger contenders for one of the top spots.
George Heriots Rowing Club
Despite not being able to find many recent results from the J18 women at George Heriots, they placed first in the women’s championship pairs at the National Schools’ Regatta in the summer. This displays the squad’s calibre in sweeping and at Rutherford, it will be revealed whether they are just as prolific when sculling in a quad.
Tees Rowing club
Tees Rowing Club crew placed first and second in WJ18 2x at Durham long distance sculls and also came second in Women’s J18 quads at Durham Autumn Small Boats Head. These results demonstrate strong base ability however in both categories there were not many entries so it will be interesting to see if they can hold their own against a larger cohort of competitors.
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association placed fourth in the women’s championship eight at the National Schools’ Regatta in the summer. This implies they are a very strong sweeping squad as this is one of the most prestigious events in junior rowing. Perhaps sweeping is their ace card, but no doubt this crew will know how to put down some power. I reckon they should be able to transfer this power into the quads on Saturday and will be aiming for top results.
Predictions
I predict that Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association will win, Durham Amateur Rowing Club will place second and George Heriots’ third.
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