With such little competition so far this season, we’re looking for any races to show us that there is light at the end of our winter training. One race that hasn’t been cancelled is Rutherford Head, and some class crews have entered to see what they can produce over the 4500m course. Will all the extra ergs pay off? And who will come out on top? We look at the fastest of the fast – the Open men’s eights band one. With not many results this season to look at, there could be some real upsets and surprise results that come out of this head race.
Durham University
A strong University rowing team, Durham have one crew entered into band one. Coming off of last year’s second place finish, and their Henley campaign, they look to kick off the season with a strong entry and a chance to grab a win. Looking at this year’s Henley, they show that their program works to develop their athletes to be competitive at the highest level. Having entered a coxed four to the Prince Albert, they lost to a strong Brown crew on the Wednesday. But in the Temple, they managed to qualify three eights, showing the strength in their depth. Their ‘C’ crew lost to Cambridge University, the winners of the boat race, by almost three lengths, and their ‘B’ crew lost to Princeton University ‘A’ by under two lengths. Their ‘A’ crew managed to win their first heat, beating Edinburgh ‘B’ and then losing to Cornell by just three feet! Their depth shows their ability to gather top level athletes and develop them into highly competitive rowers, so perhaps their top eight will give a good show and clutch a top class result.
Edinburgh University
Edinburgh are a club with a big presence. With big shows at BUCS, they look to extend their results into the ’24 season, beginning with the 4.5k race. With one eight entered, they are direct competition for Durham who are the only club entered who beat Edinburgh at last year’s event in this category. Having entered two eights into the Temple challenge club at HRR, their ‘B’ crew lost to Durham’s A crew by just over two lengths, showing their rivalry has extended through the last season. As a high-performance centre, they have a strong history with developing athletes into world class athletes, with four representations at the GB U23 2023 season. With such a good ability to develop such high standard athletes, will their first eight be a strong enough to push the competition out of the top spot? We certainly know that it will be a strong crew fighting tough to clutch the win.
Newcastle University
The only club to have two crews into the open eight band one, Newcastle set out to show their domination over their competition. Also entering two eights into last year’s open band one, they placed fourth and fifth, sitting just behind Durham and Edinburgh. With three representations at the U23 level for GB, there’s no doubt that they are able to develop their athletes to top performing rowers. One of their representations comes from Julian Egan-Shuttler, who coached the men’s eight at the European U23 championships to silver. The class in the coaching surely shows signs that they know how to produce a fast moving boat. With a boat qualified in both the Prince Albert and Temple challenge cup at Henley this year, they have pedigree in being able to get the speed required to see themselves race at the top stage. But will it be enough to grab the winning position ahead of the tough field?
Molesey
Coming out of a successful Henley campaign, Molesey are arguably the strongest non-university crew to enter band one of the open men’s eight. In the Thames challenge cup, Molesey managed to win their first two rounds, showing they know how to win in an eight. In the fours, they made the final of the Britannia and the semi-final of the Visitors, a truly impressive show of their strength. With two strong fours, their top eight would have the strength to produce some impressive numbers and keep them in the mix. One thing that can’t be ignored is the representations for GB at the U23 level, with six athletes and a coach. This shows they have what it takes to produce athletes at a high level and perform where it matters. With new head coach Sam Tuck taking the reins it remains to be seen what he can do with the depth of talent and the programme at Molesey, Rutherford represents one of his first challenges as captain of this ship.
Predictions
The other honourable mention goes to Star Club. This crew is made up of a mixture of athletes from Star and Durham University, some of which, were a part of the DUBC crew at Rutherford last year. It will be interesting to see how this mixed crew matches up to the other competition, but given the track record of the athletes and the success many of them had at this race last season, they could have enough to sneak into the top end.
With the talent in this event, it will be tight and with some top level results. I predict that Molesey will take the win, with Newcastle ‘A’, Durham and Edinburgh coming in close behind. Newcastle’s ‘B’ crew will put a good show, but will sit behind Durham on the final results.
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