Schools’ Head of the River 2018 – Girls School First Eight

Headington School Oxford BC
Headington’s first VIII have done fantastically well in the past season. They won SHORR in 2017, and topped that win off with a gold at National School’s Regatta – a win which also broke the record by three seconds – and another win at Henley Women’s Regatta. I’d imagine that with such success behind them, and no doubt just as much quality training this year, the crew will be hungry for the top spot again.

Pangbourne College BC
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Pangbourne girls, who, despite a strong win at 2016 SHORR, were unable to repeat their performance the following year, finishing in 10th place in 2017. It will definitely be interesting to see whether they are able to improve on their position to get back up to the top position this year.

Methodist College Belfast RC
The most recent information that there is with regards to this crew is their success at the 2016 Irish Schools Championships, where they took first place. Other than this there is no further information on the crew, so it will be interesting to see how they do when competing with the other crews.

Yarm School BC
There is no information about this crew in particular, however Yarm consistently do well, with many crews regularly taking home medals from national events, particularly National Schools Regatta. With a newly completed boathouse with new facilities and equipment, as well as a very reputable coaching team, I would imagine that the crew will do well.

Royal Shrewsbury School BC
Two of Royal Shrewsbury School’s girls eights raced at the 2017 Wallingford Head, coming third and fifth in their category. The squad has also done well with its other athletes as well, with the J15 girls eight coming in second at this year’s Wycliffe Head, and successes at Head of the Trent too. It will be interesting to see how the crew does when placed against their competition.

Cantabrigian Rowing Club
Most recently, the Cantabs girls first eight came first in the women’s novice eights category at the 2018 Cambridge Winter League One, winning their category by 30 seconds, and following this up with a win at the second leg of the league in February. The crew also performed well at the Cambridge Winter Head in November, winning the women’s novice category. It will be exciting to see how they do on Monday.

Kings School Worcester BC
At the Wycliffe Big Head in February, the girls senior eight won their category, despite this being their first race as a crew. The Kings rowers have been doing consistently well over the past season, with success at both indoor events and on the water. As the girls eight hasn’t had that many races together it will certainly be interesting to see how they cope with their competitors.

Bedford Girls School RC
Bedford girls school has been doing very well in recent races. At Head of the Trent, both of the WJ15 eights did very well, coming first and second in their category, especially given that this was a first race for the first eight after having made some major technical changes to their crew. The first eight also won both the WJ18 8+ and W8+ categories at Bedford Fours and Eights Head in February. With such strong performances so early on in the year, it seems that the squad is very well prepared for SHORR, so it definitely be exciting to see how they do.

Also racing are the girls first eights from Hills Road, Emanuel School, Monmouth School, Norwich School, Enniskillen Royal Boat Club and Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association.

Predictions:
1. Headington
2. Bedford Girls School
3. Cantabrigian RC

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Lucy Lloyd

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