Schools’ Head of the River 2019 – Girls School First Eights

As the most anticipated junior head race of the season, Schools’ Head of the River race is the event where juniors can demonstrate their abilities following a hard winter of training and racing at less high-profile events. An indicator for the outcomes of summer races further down the line, such as National Schools’ Regatta, SHORR is always an exciting event for athletes and spectators.

Headington School (E Rust)

Headington has a history of strong results from SHORR. Last year their girl’s championship 8 came second, whilst their girl’s school 1^st 8 came third at Schools’ Head. At 2018 National Schools’ Regatta, Ella Rust raced in the J14 girls octuple which came 3^rd in the A final. The Headington WJ15 8+ came 1^st at 2019 Henley Fours and Eights Head, and members from both this crew and those who raced in the octuple came second in the J14 G8+ at National Schools’ Regatta. As this crew seems to be comprised of J14/15 rowers, it will be interesting to see how they contend with their competitors who may have more experience at racing. However, Headington has a strong history of success at Schools’ Head, so I would expect that they will put out a strong performance.

Yarm School (S Portsmouth)

Yarm School has a reputation for producing very successful athletes. Pupils Sarah Portsmouth and Katie Anderson most recently competed at GB Junior Trials in the pair, coming second overall, a remarkable achievement, and then went on to represent England in the pair and the eight at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2018. The girls also raced at National Schools’ Regatta in the pair last year, coming 4^th in their category. Given that the standard of athletes from Yarm School BC is generally very high – the club had lots of success at National Schools’ Regatta this past year – I’d expect this eight to be aiming for a good time.

Cantabrigian RC (F Sutcliffe), (C Morley)

Though there’s not a lot of information available about either crew’s past achievements, Cantabs junior women have won the WJ18 8+ category on two out of the three (the third instalment is yet to come) of the Cambridge Winter League races. I’d imagine that this will have provided them with plenty of time to train together as a crew and to get valuable racing practice in. Overall, Cantabs juniors have been doing fairly well; with 3 out of the 4 crews entered for British Junior Rowing Championships in 2018 reaching the finals of their categories, it suggests the beginnings of a strong season for the junior squad.

Emanuel School (J Martin)

The Emanuel School crew is another which I believe could do very well in the coming race. Following events such as a development day with GB coaches at Caversham this year, the crew has proven their abilities in sweep events. At 2018 National Schools’ Regatta, Jay Martin’s crew came 5^th overall in the J16 G 4+ event and later came 2^nd overall in the W4+ Junior Challenge event at Fuller’s Head of the River 4s, a success which was followed by 9^th place overall in the W4x- Junior Championship event. At Quintin Head 2019, the WJ18 8+ came 6^th, a very respectable result. In addition to this, the squad has had successes at Pairs Head, with a win in the WJ18 2x Club, 2^nd place in WJ18 2- Club and 4^th in the WJ18 Intermediate double. Finally, at last year’s SHORR, Emanuel School came 6^th overall in the Girls Sch 1^st 8+, so it will be interesting to see how they place this year. This is a strong set of the results for the crew so far; my only concern would be an apparent lack of results for them from the eight, however I am sure that their experience in smaller sweep boats will set them in good stead for the race to come.

Henley RC (C Williams)

As always, the Henley crew for this event is very strong. Most recently, the crew came first in the WJ18 8+ at Wallingford Fours and Eights Head. Asides from this, the girls have been very successful in both fours and quads, with 3^rd place in the coxless four at Fours Head and wins in the quad at both Henley Sculls Head and Wallingford Long Distance Sculls 2018. It will be exciting to see how they put their experience into practice for the race.

Team Keane Sculling School (S Bussell)

Another crew about which there is less information than others, Team Keane junior women raced in the WJ18 8+ at Quintin Head this year, recording a time of 16:41. They also raced at 2019 Hammersmith Head, coming in 5^th place but with a time of 14:09. I think that the main thing going against this crew is lack of experience, but I’m sure that SHORR will prove an exciting challenge for them nonetheless.

Durham School (P Davies)

At Rutherford Head, the composite crew of Durham School and Tyne ARC came in third place, with a time of 20:43. Hopefully, the crew will have some experience of training on the Tyne as well as just racing, as this will definitely place them in a good position for Tideway racing. There is no other information about the crew, so it will be interesting to see how they fare.

The King’s School, Worcester (B Evans)

At National Schools’ Regatta 2018, Beatrice Evans raced in the Ch G4x which came second in the D final, ranked as 20^th overall in the country, a fantastic achievement for the crew. Aside from this, the club holds the WJ18 8+ course record for British Rowing Junior Championships from 2002. There haven’t been any King’s Worcester crews entered for recent tideway races such as Hammersmith or Quintin Head, so it is difficult to predict how this crew will do.

Putney High School (A Zedda James)

Putney High School is another very successful crew entered for this event. The club has had successes in a variety of boats, including the WJ18 pair at Pair’s Head, where the crew had a lead of more than 6 seconds over the crew which came second. At Henley Women’s Regatta, the girls had an incredible victory over a Henley crew to win the junior women’s coxed four. Annabel Zedda-James raced as part of the Sch G4+ which took first place at Nat Schools’ A Final, and later came 2^nd in Ch G2- C Final. Such results suggest that the crew is very strong and, seeing as they train regularly on this stretch of river, will have plenty of experience to back this skill up.

Shrewsbury School (N Dee)

Shrewsbury School has had a rather successful season as a junior squad. At Hammersmith Head, the junior women came first in the Development Eights category, a very impressive result. Aside from this, at Four’s Head of the River, the senior women raced in two coxless quads in the challenge coxless quads category, coming 3^rd and 9^th in the category. Finally, the squad travelled to the US to race in the Head of the Charles, with the JW8+ coming out as the fastest British crew in the event.  Though there are no results for the specific crew, it seems as if the squad as a whole has been doing very well recently, so I’m sure they will perform well.

Surbiton High School (F Spurling)

The Surbiton crew also has very strong credentials coming into the race. With 4^th place in the J16 G 8+ at 2018 National Schools Regatta and 79^th place overall at 2018 WeHORR, this crew will definitely be aiming for one of the top spots. Spurling’s crew won the women’s coxless fours category at 2018 Kingston Small Boat’s Head, and also raced in the J16 G 8+ which took second place at SHORR last year. With such strong results behind them, I’m sure that this crew will do very well.

Nottingham & Union RC (E Dyson)

This crew has had a storming season so far. With wins in the eight at Head of the Trent, Newark Head, Burton Sprint Regatta and St Ives Regatta in 2018, as well as a win at Boston Head 2019, the crew seems almost unstoppable. The girls have also won in different crew combinations in the quad and the four, winning the WJ18 4x- at 2019 Head of the Trent, as well as in the coxed quad at Peterborough Junior Championships and the coxed four and coxed quad at Burton Regatta last year. Overall, this looks to be a very strong crew line up, so it will be exciting to see how they fair against other powerful crews.

Reading Blue Coat School (E Lee)

With new coach Allan Smith having joined their coaching team recently, Reading Blue Coat School’s juniors are sure to have experienced a change up in their training schedule. Most recently, Lee’s crew came 3^rd in the W Sch/Jun 8+ category at Hammersmith Head 2019, a good achievement for what is a smaller, lesser known club than some of the others racing. The juniors have done fairly well at other recent events, with 5^th place for both the J15 and J16 eights at Quintin Head.

Great Marlow School (O Harvey- Brown)

Another fairly local club entered for SHORR, Great Marlow School BC is another squad which has begun to do rather well in recent times. Most recently, their women’s eight came 5^th at Hammersmith Head, and the two crews entered for the W4x- Junior Challenge category at Head of the River Four’s came 5^th and 10^th places respectively. The squad has also won at events including Schools’ Head, The Scullery, National Schools’ Regatta and British Rowing Junior Championships, and more recently came in 3^rd place in the WJ18 8+ at Wallingford Head of the River.

With a full draw of very competent crews – which includes crews from Latymer Upper School, Pangbourne College, Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School and international crew Kungalvs Roddklubb & Mimers Gymnasium, Sweden in addition to the crews mentioned above. I’m sure that this event will have some very close results.

I’d imagine that the top spots will go to the Headington School, Henley RC and Putney High School crews, though the Emanuel School and Nottingham and Union RC crews are also looking like very strong contenders.

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