The pinnacle of the head racing season, and the first part of the hallowed ‘triple’, the Schools Head comes at the end of a bumper weekend of Tideway racing. The Schools Head is over the traditional 6.8km championship course from Chiswick to Putney and is a real test of everything – technique, fitness, steering and dealing with the river conditions. The Championship Quads has an entry of 26 boats and is as ever stacked with quality and I’m sure will be a fight right to the wire to claim the winners pennant.
Maidenhead RC
Leading off the quads as winners of last years shortened event are Maidenhead. This crew is identical to the crew who won the event last year and are now in their final year of junior rowing. This crew has been in and around the top end of junior quads for the past two seasons without ever really maximising their potential. This year is their final season to show they can be the leading junior quad in the UK. With the same 4 guys who won this event last year and made the Henley semi final, they have the experience on board. This year their coach, Katerina Kleshnev, has changed the crew order, moving Harrison Rowe into the stroke seat, and shifting Eduardo Marshall into the bows, with Victor Kleshnev and Elliott Kemp providing the horsepower from three and two respectively. At Hampton Head this quad won by 9 seconds over 3000m, and took a 1-2 in the doubles split by only a second in an impressive display which signalled their intent for the season. With some impressive trials results at both junior and U23 level in this crew, this crew are really a crew to watch on Monday.
The Windsor Boys School BC
Another well established and feared name on the junior sculling scene the Windsor Boys will no doubt be out to show they mean business for this year. With Henley winners from 2017 on board and the strength of the programme at Windsor this quad will no doubt be vying for top spot. This crew will no doubt contain Bryn Ellery who placed 4th in the single and then won the doubles with fellow world silver medalist Victor Kleshnev. Also Isaac Workman performed admirably at the recent trial finishing 9th and 5th in the single and double respectively. As a crew Windsor Boys raced a quad at Hampton Head where they placed 2nd behind the aforementioned Maidenhead crew. A near 10 second margin over 3000m looks like a lot of work is needed, but it’s worth looking at the style employed by these clubs. Windsor generally have less power but scull a tight, efficient style, whilst Maidenhead have a lot more raw power with a real physical body swing, which is clearly effective, but the Schools Head is a long way, and a bulletproof rhythm will often fare better over raw power, so these crews could well be closer than we saw at Hampton.
Leander Club
Two boats in from Leander here, as has been the form at most major events so far this year. Leander have a good depth to their squad this year, however it is also quite a young squad, with only one memeber of the Henley semi final crew from last year. Having said that Leander qualified three boats last year so these guys know about performing at the top level. The first crew, which will go off second, behind Maidenhead is the same crew as the Fours Head, and will have Matt Peters on board, who was in the semi final crew from Henley last year and performed well at February trials, placing well in the single just outside the top 10, and then 5th in the double on the Sunday. This crew came 2nd at Fours Head behind suprise winners St Pauls who had their top 4 guys in the quad then, who have moved into the eight for this race. The second crew starts only two crews back so will look to hunt down their clubmates. In the B crew slightly suprisingly is Joe Murphy. I say surprisingly based on the fact he placed 10th in the single at trials, beating all other Leander entries, so is clearly a talent and it’s a suprise not to see him in the top boat. This clearly suggests a talented pair of crews however over the short Hampton course, with the A crew placing 7th and the B crew placing 22nd. Whilst this doesn’t seem like the best result these two crews will no doubt want to prove they are right in the mix heading into the summer months.
Westminster School BC
Over the past few season, Westminster have become a name more often associated with the Championship 8s category rather than the quad. This year however, the two have flipped in the pecking order and the quad seems to be the priority boat, with the 8 below that. As the top crew from Westminster, this will no doubt be a serious challenger for the event. This crew was brought together early in the season and has built on as time has progressed. George Middleton, who stroked last years 8 finished 3rd in a double at the recent February trials so this crew clearly has a high calibre of athlete. In terms of results as a crew Hampton yielded a 3rd place finish for this boat, a mere 2 seconds away from Windsor Boys in 2nd. What this crew does have that none of these other previously mentioned boats have is the inner knowledge that comes about as a result of being a Tideway based school. This should help the steering, which on the Tideway is critical in order to be in with a chance of doing well, particularly at the level of these quads. This crew is defintely one to keep an eye on, as a potential dark horse.
Tideway Scullers School
One of the most well known names on the club rowing scene, and making an impact on the junior scene are Tideway Scullers. This club is home to February trials winner in the single and runner up in the double Laurence Joss. Scullers also have a large number of other athletes trialling so I expect that any quad boated from here will be fast. Hampton saw a 4th place finish for this quad, albeit some way off the winners that day. Being another Tideway based club they will see some advantage in terms of steering so whilst this quad may not win, I would say top 3 is not beyond the bounds of possibility.
Other notable mentions
After a less than satisfactory season last year, Marlow will be looking to prove they are back to challenge the top crews on the junior quads scene. Kings School Worcester have had competitive quads for the past couple of seasons, so will be looking to do well again here. The final crew I want to mention as they are a suprise name in the Champ Quads field and that is Winchester College Boat Club. There is no 8+ entered which is somewhat surprising, this quad is the clubs second crew behind the 4+ which has been the focus all season. As such it will be intresting to see what this crew can do in an unfamiliar and very competitive event.
Predictions
Here is the tricky bit. There are a number of crews that I can make a strong case for winning this overall. My gut says Maidenhead will defend their pennant from last year, but one thing to consider is that leading off, Maidenhead may well have to negotiate through some of the second 8s in front of them and as such could be slowed down by this. Windsor Boys were 10 seconds down at Hampton but this could be closer here and the famous Windsor technique will no doubt come into its own over the long championship course. Leander’s top boat proved at the 4s head they can produce over the long Tideway course so they cannot be discounted despite a seemingly average performance at Hampton. Westminster could well spring a suprise and pinch the pennant, with their inner Tideway knowledge potentially shaving a few vital seconds, Tideway Scullers will also produce a solid crew but I don’t think it will win, but top 3 could be achievable. In terms of a finish order my prediction would be:
1. Maidenhead
2. Leander ‘A’
3. Windsor Boys School
4. Westminster School
5. Tideway Scullers School
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