Winter has come. The snow has fallen. The cold has finally melted away and spring beckons. The bloom of a new year has been replaced by the slow progression of inanimate weeks of repetition, of marginal gain, of incremental increase. To pass from winter to summer, a junior rower must first complete the most gruelling of challenges. A 6.8km race on one of the most famous stretches of water in the world, reversing up The Boat Race course and taking on muscle, mind and matter in a bid to be crowned winter kings.
The 5k tests are done, the weights have been lifted. The preparation races are out of the way, and steady state ergs ground out. With Schools’ Head now less than a week away, crews finally have the chance of putting all their training together and prove their worth in the most important head race of the season for juniors.
The weather forecast for the race at the moment is a low chance of rain, with temperatures around 10 degrees. As always, racing line will be one of the most important factors in determining a quick time, along with ability to cope with tideway conditions, and pure endurance.
Having the honour of being the first down the course this year is Shiplake College, who won J18 8+ at Quintin Head, and were the second fastest junior crew at the event. Their win at the event last year shows they are not perturbed by tricky conditions, but whether they can make it work over a longer course is another question.
Eton College have not raced on the tideway this season since their fourth place at Fours’ Head. However, their coxes have been given a trip over the course in a launch recently whilst the top crew have been training on the course. After their win at Hampton Head in such a strong field, they are expected to place highly next week.
Unbeaten by any junior crew this season, we find St Paul’s. They had a commanding gap of nine seconds over the next-fastest junior crew at Quintin Head, a close margin in pieces against Goldie recently, a win at GB trials, and there is even talk of a new British Junior 5k record. There is no doubt that Bobby Thatcher’s crew are red hot favourites to win the event.
The top quad from Westminster means that the eight is not their top priority boat, and this has been shown with lower-than-expected placings of 7th and 5th at the Hampton and Quintin Heads. They were only 0.1 seconds behind KCS at Hampton, and will want to turn that result around.
Matched crews that finished 4th and 7th place at Quintin Head from Radley College show both their depth and the fact that if they entered a top crew it would have finished even higher. With the help of the Dorney training camp over half term, and their new erg centre, I am pipping Radley for a top 3 finish.
Hampton School have recently taken delivery of a new USP – whether this boat is a 4 or an 8 I do not know. Their seniors have not managed a single race on the tideway yet this season, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to the other crews. However, they did finish 3rd at their home race, showing good speed.
Abingdon School were only 0.5 seconds behind a win in J18 8+ at Quintin Head, and I imagine Rory Copus’ crew will finish around the top 5.
Another squad that has not raced on the tideway yet is St Edward’s School. However, they did finish 2nd at Hampton Head, so should not be worried by this lack of experience on the course.
One question many people’s minds is: Who are Canottieri Varese? The answer: A squad from Northern Italy which seem to be a successful team on the domestic scene. They will be unlikely to feature on race day, given that the Italian crew that raced last year was more than 35 seconds off the pace.
Hoping to clear the Italians quickly we find Latymer Upper. They recently have had race practice against Thames RC, and, although they usually are considered a first eights crew, they have not been afraid to finish higher up in the rankings than usual, such as 5th at Wallingford and 8th and Hampton.
Hot on the heels of Latymer is King’s College. They have turned around last season and shown they can compete for top placings with a successful trials from Rufus King and Oscar Olsén, who finished 8th and 5th respectively. Last weekend they did some pieces against the Imperial College second crew, and, a photo from this suggests they will be racing without their captain of boats. Despite this, KCS have shown they are not a one man crew and can still perform without him, shown by their 6th places at Quintin and Hampton, the latter of which they reversed their loss to Westminster.
Gloucester Hartpury are a GB start squad containing the athlete that finish 4th and 5th in the single during trials weekend. They certainly have been maximising their training, with altitude ergs in Wales and lactate testing. Whether they have the squad depth to put a strong enough crew to compete in such a strong field together is a question that only they know the answer.
This Championship 8 field is one of the strongest for a while in my opinion. Times separating crews will be minimal, and, with the added thought of it being the last Schools’ Head for many of the rowers, every second, every tenth, will be fought for.
OarsomeBows
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