The time has come for hundreds of junior crews to race down the often-unruly water of the Tideway. Schools’ Head has come around again and with entries including most of the top crews from this season’s other head races, it looks promising for some brilliant racing. At Fours Head, the top crews in this category finished within seconds of each other after 22 minutes of racing. If the 24 crews in this large category retain – or improve on – their form, I’m sure this will be an exciting category to watch.
Marlow
When examining these crews, it is hard to ignore the Marlow. Lombardo and her J16 crew had a fantastic season in 2018, representing GB Juniors against France. Marlow crews also secured final and semi-final places at Henley Women’s Regatta 2018. This season Marlow have also performed well. A Marlow crew won the Junior 8s at Quintin Head and Lombardo’s crew came second in the Junior Championship W4x- at 4s Head. In the absence of Henley – the 4s Head winners – this is going to be the crew to beat.
Tideway Scullers School
Tideway has had a good start to the season, most notably with a win in the WJ18 doubles at Pairs Head. They also achieved good results at Fours Head, with a 4th and a 6th place in the Junior Championship W4x-. Perhaps this time they might break into the top three?
Putney High School
Putney seem to be going from strength to strength in recent years. Last season they secured an impressive win in the J4+ category at Henley Women’s Regatta. This season, they bagged at 1st in the Championship doubles at Pairs Head and a respectable 4th place in the Junior Challenge W4x- at Four Head – a result I’m sure they will be wanting to improve on coming into this race.
Emanuel School
Emanuel are an interesting prospect. So far this season they have been achieving good results in smaller boats: their WJ18 double won at Pairs Head and a scored both 1st and 2nd at Wallingford Head. At Fours Head however, they only managed to get 9th place in the Junior Championship W4x- so is this race where they translate their small boat strength into quad success?
Walton
Another club with a few wins in the smaller boats is Walton. At Pairs Head, Walton won the WJ18 Pairs and came 2nd in the double. At Fours Head, their Junior Championship coxless quad only managed to get 5th place, just behind Putney, and similarly to Putney I am sure they will be keen to improve on this.
There are a few other crews that I think could pull some good times, York City RC, Gloucester Hartbury, Shiplake College, Maidenhead and Lea among others, but this is a very strong field and all the crews will be putting up a fight.
Predictions
Based on previous performances, Marlow is going to be the crew to beat. However, Putney or Tideway Scullers are ones to look out for as they are strong crews with a solid season, both last year and this year.
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