For many schools, J15 is the first year that sweep oar rowing is introduced, and this year will lay the foundations for seasons to come. The Schools’ Head is the first chance for many of the big names to put out their strongest crews, and to allow the athletes to see the standard that they need to be rowing at to carry forward into the summer season. Schools’ Head sees a 12 boat field of clubs who you would expect to be boating strong 8s at this stage of the season.
St Pauls School BC
A club who know a thing or two about producing rapid crews, St Pauls must be considered as one of the favorites going into this event. They demonstrated the depth of their J15 cohort at Quintin Head where they had three crews finish within 17 seconds of one another, and then turned up the heat at Hammersmith Head, where they took victory in the J15 category a mere 0.1 seconds ahead of Kings College Wimbledon. Combine this with the fact they are racing in their own backyard and you have a genuine contender.
Westminster School BC
Always in the picture at J15 level, Westminster again seem to have a strong looking crew. They took a win at Teddington before the turn of the year, and being a club that tends to keep its cards close to it’s chest, taking a third place at Quintin, and missing out on Hampton means Westminster haven’t done much racing. Again, the Schools’ Head course gives the boys in pink home advantage, so expect to see them challenging for honours.
Shiplake College BC
A name that has moved increasingly to the forefront of the junior rowing scene, Shiplake are starting to emerge as genuine contenders across the age groups. The thing about this crew is that it seems to be picking up speed very fast. At Hammersmith Head, they placed a solid if unspectacular 11th place. However, at Reading Uni Head on Sunday, this crew won their category, beating Teddies who had beat them at Hammersmith. A crew gaining ground on the run up to the summer, and I fully expect to see Shiplake at the top end of this event on Friday
Kings College School BC
KCS have forced themselves into the picture for this event based on their results at the Tideway Heads this side of the New Year. They finished the wrong side of a 0.1 second margin to St Pauls at Hammersmith Head, after taking a good win the Quintin Head earlier in the year. Whilst Kings don’t have the pedigree of the clubs mentioned above, these are results that cannot be overlooked and they could carry this form into this race over the full championship course.
Others to note
There are a number of crews who have produced one decent result this year, with Eton showing the depth of their squad at Reading Uni Head, and Radley showing strong finishes at Hammersmith and Reading, so again, they could spring a surprise, but i wouldn’t expect them or any of the other entries here challenging for the pennant on Friday.
Prediction
A particularly tricky event to call, especially due to the fact that it’s at J15 level and over a notoriously challenging course. There are a wealth of crews from schools that are normally associated with high quality eights racing. With all this in mind my top five for this event would be:
- St Pauls School BC
- Shiplake College BC
- Westminster School BC
- Kings College School BC
- Radley College BC
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