Schools’ Head of the River 2018 – Championship Girls Eights

Last year’s School’s Head was very much at the hands of the weather; terrible conditions led to a significant course shortening and in many cases, results didn’t quite pan out as expected. With a week to go til this year’s event, crews will be bracing for predicted strong northerly wind with gusts up to 30mph. This will undoubtedly create challenging conditions over the length of the 6.8km course. There are 6 entries in ChG.8+ this year and all of these crews, with the exception of Latymer, will race at the Women’s Head of the River this Saturday – unusually, only two days prior to SHORR. WEHORR serves as a valuable opportunity for final preparation ahead of School’s Head and the results there will be a telling indicator as to who will be in contention for the top spot on Monday.

Headington School
Headington’s long-standing domination is arguably unrivalled in both junior men’s and women’s rowing. This year’s squad will be under pressure, as their predecessors have won this category at the National Schools Regatta for the past nine year’s consecutively, so there is a lot at stake to make it an extraordinary tenth this season. WEHORR last year saw the girls from Oxford take an impressive 13th place overall to set a new junior record. However, this season the competition is very strong – most notably, from Henley RC. Whilst Henley remained only within touching distance of HSOBC last year – who won the junior girls’ ‘triple’ of SHORR, NSR and HWR – they are more determined than ever to overturn the long legacy of success set by Headington. HSOBC have the years behind them backing another win this year, but perhaps not the early season form to match that of Henley.

Henley RC
Henley RC have had a fantastic start to this season – perhaps unsurprisingly so, as unlike HSOBC, they held onto the majority of their top senior athletes from last year. Performing consistently every time they’ve raced, they’ve shown the impressive depth that is beginning to become characteristic of the club, including taking both junior pennants at HOR4s in November. Georgie Robinson-Ranger topped both junior GB sculling trials so far this year, as well as joining Lottie Orr-HRR 2017 crewmate and JWRC athlete in the quad-to win JW2x at February trials by an impressive margin. Headington and Henley’s eights have only matched up once so far this year at Wallingford Head, with steering issues masking a completely definite result. WEHORR will be a crucial moment in seeing how these crews compare, but if margins are small there, it could all be still to play for on Monday between these fierce rivals.

Lady Eleanor Holles
LEH were 3rd at School’s Head last year behind Headington and Henley. They didn’t seem to be affected by a lack of race experience, after remaining very quiet for the head season, but going on to perform well at SHORR. They took a positive win in WJ18.2- at Pairs Head this year, but their 4th and 9th in WJ18.4+ and WJ18.4x respectively at HOR4s wasn’t as compelling a result as we’ve seen in previous years. Finishing 2nd in WJ.8+ on home water at Hampton Head, 12 seconds short of Henley, puts them in a good position to match their performance at SHORR last year, but given the increased length of the course, they don’t look to be in a position to challenge for the silver medal.

Glasgow Academy
Glasgow Academy are not a club often associated with racing junior women’s eights. However, they raced at School’s Head last year to finish sixth in ChG8+, quite a way off the pace of the top placing crews, and went on to win the B final of junior women’s eights at National Schools. They have a couple of trialists this year, with Jenny Olney placing 4th in JW2- at Feb trials in a composite with Celia Matthews of LEH, who raced the pair at the JWRC last August. Glasgow don’t appear to be in a position to challenge the top finishers, but should be fighting the likes of Lea and Latymer.

Lea RC
Lea appear to have taken on the challenge of racing an eight again this year, after they remained in smaller boats last season following a 6th place finish in this category at the 2016 National Schools Regatta. Lea have some talented athletes, having made up half of the Marlow composite eight at the J16 GB vs France match last summer, albeit at the younger end of this age group. They finished 5th at Hampton Head, only 5 seconds ahead of Latymer Upper. The tideway course is much longer and tougher, so Lea will have to perform well to ensure Latymer don’t catch them at SHORR.

Latymer Upper
Being fairly unseasoned sweep racers as a renowned school for sculling, with what one would assume is a top quad entered, Latymer have made an interesting decision in electing to enter the ChG8+ category rather than G.1st8+. That isn’t to say they haven’t shown good depth into the squad making up this crew, fielding quads finishing with the 2nd and 7th fastest times of the junior entries at HOR4s back in November. They’ve raced this crew with good results so far, including a 2nd place finish behind LEH at Quintin Head. Latymer faced a tougher category at Hampton Head, finishing 30s behind winners from Henley RC to take a respectable 6th. They might find the competition in this category tough, but will benefit from the freshness gained from their lack of a WEHORR entry and will look to compete amongst the first eights for time.

Prediction:

1. Henley RC
2. Headington School
3. Lady Eleanor Holles

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