Schools’ Head of the River 2025 – Open Championship Eights Preview

It’s finally here – the Schools’ Head of the River 2025: the climax of the head racing season, a gruelling 4.2 miles in stormy Tideway conditions, marking the beginning of the transition to shorter, sunnier races of the regatta season. No head race is more hotly anticipated by racers and spectators alike, and this year is shaping up to be a fierce competition and no event is more anticipated than the championship eights, a pinnacle of school rowing.

St Paul’s School Boat Club

Undoubtedly, St Paul’s School Boat Club takes their place as the number one crew to watch on the Tideway this Tuesday, as they look to build on an unrivalled winning season from last year, winning the illustrious ‘Quadruple’: victories at the Head of the Charles, Schools’ Head of the River, National Schools’ Regatta, as well as Henley Royal Regatta. The school has shown no signs of stopping this season, taking an impressive second overall at Quintin Head in January, finishing just one second behind a strong London Rowing Club crew. Just four weeks later, they exacted their revenge, finishing first overall at the Hammersmith Head, nearly two seconds ahead of a slightly different London crew, demonstrating an apparent increase in speed due to their winter training. With blisteringly fast times already produced in racing this year, a spotless reputation at home and abroad (winning back-to-back titles on the Charles in Boston helps), as well as 5000m ergo world record holder Alp Karadogan gearing up for his fourth year in the school’s first eight, this crew is looking a likely bet to take the win this Tuesday, potentially breaking records in the process.

King’s College School Boat Club

Another staple of the Tideway, King’s College School Boat Club has shown impressive improvements in recent years, notably including a third-place finish last year in this event. Head race season has proven beneficial for this school so far, finishing third at the Head of the Charles, as well as taking a strong second-place finish in the school eights division at Quintin Head, just behind Hampton School Boat Club, before beating that same Hampton crew with a decisive 15-second difference just last Saturday at Kingston Head. A good amount of international experience in the crew bodes well for King’s as they approach race day, with Ivo Monaghan representing Great Britain at the Coupe de la Jeunesse regatta last summer in Račice and Alastair Heathcote representing England at the Home International Regatta. Additionally, a home turf advantage could be just what this school needs to put down a strong performance next week and cement themselves as one of the key figures in schoolboy rowing.

Shiplake College Boat Club

Another well-established name on the schoolboy rowing circuit, Shiplake College Boat Club will be out for revenge this Tuesday. They were the second-fastest junior crew behind St Paul’s at both Quintin and Hammersmith Head this year and will be desperate for revenge after losing out to Paul’s in the final of Henley Royal Regatta last year. Shiplake are another crew on the Tideway to have many internationals on board, with athletes such as Luca Hunt-Davis putting down a strong performance at the Coupe de la Jeunesse regatta last summer for Great Britain. While perhaps lacking some of the Tideway racing experience crucial to a race like this, Shiplake College heads into this final week of preparation in confident mood. They were in fine form on the River Amstel at the Heineken Roeivierkamp, taking U23 victories in the 2500m, 250m, 5000m, and 750m events. This level of speed – plus retribution in the offing after an unceremonious collision with a buoy in 2024 – marks them out as ones to watch at this year’s Schools’ Head of the River.

Hampton School Boat Club

While lacking the reputation of other clubs on the list, Hampton School Boat Club should not be disregarded in the conversation about this year’s Schools’ Head of the River. Having finished ninth at this event last year before placing eighth at the National Schools’ Regatta a couple of months later, Hampton have shown themselves to be an A-final competitor. In 2025, they stepped on; they were the third-fastest junior eight at Hammersmith Head and fourth-fastest at Kingston Head. Internationals in the crew, such as George Buckingham, Harry Bernard, and Harry Oliver, bring a level of experience and proficiency to this crew that could be what it needs to put down a strong performance. A medal would be an outstanding result.

Bedford School

Don’t sleep on Bedford School this year. They were the fastest crew overall at the Bedford Eights & Fours Head in February after placing second in junior eights at Quintin Head (0.3 seconds behind Shiplake). They followed this up by finishing third in junior eights at Hammersmith Head (fifth-fastest junior crew across all categories) and third in open eights at Kingston Head, so they’re right in the race for a medal here. After years spent in the first eight category, they’ve reaffirmed themselves as a genuine heavyweight in recent years and now stand on the precipice of something quite remarkable – a tilt at the podium of championship eights.

Eton College

Frequently underrated and undersold, Eton were forced to withdraw from this event in 2024 and will aim to catapult themselves back into contention in 2025. Their run-out in the final of the open championship eights at the National Schools’ Regatta was one of the bravest junior rowing strategies I’ve seen and probably cost them a medal, but it gave everyone a sense of their racing spirit. We have not seen much of Eton this season, save an underwhelming performance at Quintin Head that saw them lose out to three St Edward’s School eights amongst other key junior rivals. Under the stewardship of Will Satch following the departure of Mark Fangen-Hall to Oxford University, their progress will be one to keep an eye on.

St Edward’s School

Winners of The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 2023 and semifinalists in 2024, St Edward’s School still have a fearsome set of junior athletes. Their top-ranking pair – featuring Xenophon Chapman and Elam Hughes – won the first run of the February U19 GBRT Trials, before Hughes went on to win runs two and three with different partners. With such impressive talent on board, you’d be foolish to write off Jonny Singfield’s boys.

Radley College

Under new tutelage in 2025 via the well-established talents of Paddy Duggan, Radley are perennial contenders who have never entirely made that step onto hallowed and golden ground. They were fifth at this event in 2024 and then won silver at the National Schools’ Regatta in an epic tussle with Shiplake, St Edward’s School, Eton and KCS. Duggan’s responsibility – if not explicitly stated – will be to try and drive the top end of the squad onto greater heights in the face of ever-intensifying domestic and overseas competition. Radley have always had exceptional depth, and Sam Townsend runs a marvellous programme (they had seven boys in the top 30 pairs at the February trials), but winning the big prizes would be a key turning point in their evolution.

Latymer Upper School

Another boat club who flirted with the championship category throughout the previous decade but have now fully committed their resource to this end. Their top pairing (Zachary Holden and Raphael Corbett) were 13th at the February U19 GBRT Trials and then pitched in to drive the crew to fourth at the Hammersmith Head (narrowly behind Bedford and Radley). A top-ten placing should be very achievable and top-five would represent a magnificent day out on home water.

Notable Mentions

Other crews to watch out for include Westminster School – who will fancy their chances of sneaking up the rankings on home water – Dulwich College – who also will compete on a course they know well and have been slowly gathering traction under Tristan Mayglothling – Abingdon School – whose speed at the Head of the River Race just three days before their Tideway age-group tussle will be indicative of what to expect next Tuesday – and Tideway Scullers School, who tend to put out competitive junior crews wherever they pitch up.

Conclusion

St Paul’s are hard to look past for the overall victory and headship. Their strength across the board – combined with a set of enviable 2025 results in both big and small boats – marks them out as the crew to beat. The tussle for silver and bronze is shaping up to be quite compelling, but our guess goes with Shiplake College in silver and King’s School Wimbledon in bronze in a repeat of the top three from 2024.

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