As the 15th of March quickly approaches crews are now well and truly coming to the end of the head season. Many will be hoping to draw the season to an end with one of the biggest and most hotly contested races of the year. Despite the weather having been bleak and miserable for much of the past few weeks, it seems, looking ahead that Friday might just turn in favour of the crews. Whilst previously there looked the potential for cancellation it now seems highly unlikely given the bright and sunny day currently predicted.
The category for the J16 girls quads is significantly smaller this year than last. With there being an over subscription of crews for the event many have opted to race at the School’s National Scullery on Monday the 18th at Dorney lake, rather than at Friday’s event. Particularly as School’s Head of the River tends to be far more focused on sweeping rather than scull boats.
Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club (S Cowell)
The girls at Wyclliffe has sadly had many of their races cancelled due to the poor weather received in the Midlands. However, the crew are experienced and have had plenty of practice at events very early on in the head season. Not only this but they aren’t new to racing on tideway as they are regular competitors in this annual event. Perhaps with out some crews such as St Pauls and Latymer who have chosen not to compete in this category, the girls from Wycliffe may have a greater opportunity to place within the top 5.
York City RC (E Soma) (A) York City RC (A Laidlaw) (B)
York have entered two crews into the event this year, we could be led to assume there’s high levels of competition within the squad between the crews. The net result of this could promise some strong and cutthroat racing between the crews. The squad have recently been able to compete at York head where they achieved a promising set of results including a number of wins, particularly from Laidlaw.
Stratford-upon-Avon BC (A Baines)
The Stratford crew have been going from strength to strength this season. although a number of post Christmas races has been cancelled they gained experience earlier in the head season. Fortunately for them this prepared them well for the West Midlands Championships at Stourport on the 9th of March where the crew came second against tough competition. This crew seems set for success but will need to pace themselves for the long distance and choppy conditions the Tideway provides.
William Perkin’s School (S Koram)
The girls in this crew are certainly well experienced as they have raced in a number of events this year. Despite this however it seems unlikely for the crew to reach the top 3 as although experience is on their side they are lacking the results to back them up for a top place finish this Friday.
Nottingham & Union RC (E Adlam)
Again, like many other crews in this category, experience of racing is no issue for this crew. Instead it is the ability of competing crews as well as the girls own strength. At the East Midland – Junior Inter Regional Trials, however, this crew proved that they were one of the best crews in the area and took first place. They stand a very good chance on Friday to come out well compared to other crews but I think that Statford may pose them some serious opposition.
Overall, this category seems much less competitive than it has done in the past, but this is largely due to many of the large London schools choosing not to race. If the weather stays fine the day of racing from Chiswick Bridge in Mortlake to Westminster School Boat Club flagpole in Putney will be a far more enjoyable race for all, compared to the conditions many crews will have been training in. My predictions for the race for the winner is stuck between Stratford Upon Avon and Nottingham and Union as both seem to have particularly strong crews competing well at county levels. However, I think Statford have a slight advantage as they have been known in the past to produce strong results at national events and have a lot of experience and expertise behind them. Therefore, Nottingham and Union should take second place, most likely leaving York to claim third. On the day, however, all could change as it seems the crews entered for Friday’s event could each pull one out of the bag and impress their rivals.
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