This weekend we will see 12 WJ16 crews race upon the Thames in the first Schools Head of The River Race in the past couple of years. With often formidable conditions upon the course, the race makes for a test of capability against the tideway waves and the overall strength of each boat to push through the 7km stretch. This preview will focus on the top 5 crews in this category:
St Paul’s Girls School
Setting off first in the start order, St Paul’s Girls School will lead the crews in the WJ16 1st Eights division all the while pushing to keep them off their trail! They placed fourth out of 10 crews at Quintin Head in January, with a secondary crew placing eighth. Although there’s no information available about Kavukcuoglu specifically, nor the crews she’s competed in, we can assume that this crew has raced together previously in a combination of the Quintin Head crews and that they will aim to place high up in the finish times amongst the twelve crews.
Emanuel School
Setting off second in the start order is Emanuel School under the crew name Renton. Although there isn’t any specific information on the crew members themselves, their WJ16 boats have competed at various events over the past year including Fours Head of the River against clubs such as Henley and Tideway Scullers. Whilst at Wallingford Head the U16 coxed four placed fourth and at this years Quintin Head the WJ16 eight placed seventh out of ten. From these results we can assume that Emanuel School stands a good chance at crossing the finish line with a strong time and holding their position against the other crews.
Godolphin & Latymer School
Godolphin & Latymer School have produced largely successful crews over the years who have competed in some of the UKs top regattas and heads such as WEHORR and Junior Sculling Regatta.Once again the WJ16 eights division at Quintin Head proved popular amongst the schools competing this weekend. The WJ16 eight has competed before at Quintin head, alongside many of the other girls in this competition in the same category, finishing 10th out of the 10 crews competing. Although this may have been disappointing at the time, hopefully they can redeem themselves this weekend!
Sir William Perkins School
The WJ16 crews at Sir William Perkins School had their first ever head race at Reading Small Boats Head in October 2021 with the crew of Basra, also competing this weekend, placing 4th in the double sculls. Based on their training being mainly focused on regattas in the past and only just beginning the transition to heads it will be interesting to see how, with rowing being a big part of school life at Sir William Perkins School and constant efforts to improve the results on the water, they tackle the Thames course and what results they produce.
Bedford Girls School
Bedford Girls School has had many successful crews at Henley Women’s Regatta and National Schools Regatta over their time as a club. Their most recent WJ16 eights crew finished first at Bedford Eights and Fours Head in February and their WJ16 fours finished considerably well at the same race in their category. Considering they have previous experience racing in the eight and have placed well amongst a range of crews, they should perform well this weekend.
Prediction
I predict that Emanuel School will place first due to their previous experiences in the eight and number of races attended, in second will be St Pauls Girls School with their position as first in the start order and then Bedford Girls School in third due to the experience in the eight at recent races and their results produced.
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