For the longest time its been a winter comprised of abject misery and bad weather. The rapid series of multiple storms has left a distain in the rowing community following the cancellation of multiple events and most noticeably the aborted Women’s Head of River Regatta. However the storms are passing and the coming of the boat race and the fixtures has meant that the Tideway is never really quiet. This is especially true with the upcoming fixture of the School’s Head.
The event is one of the last winter events on the calender as the longer colder pieces slowly die out in favour of the side by side racing and close calls and staring down your opponents on the start line. Until then the crews will be embarking to the tideway and competing on the rough water from Chiswick and snaking up the Thames past Barnes Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge before the end game sprint towards the line before Putney Bridge.
The category of the open School/ Junior fours is a great meeting ground for the open club crews and the school crews who don’t always see eye to eye. There are six crews that are in contention for the category win subsequently all six of them have made a discernible impact over their respective winter seasons.
Westminster School
The first school making a bid for the title is the Westminster School. The London based school will be playing at home and will hopefully be making use of the extra knowledge of the Tideway. The crew placed well making good waves by placing at Hampton Head. Westminster won the J15 Eights by two seconds and came 10th in the Open J16 Coxless fours. Looking back earlier in the year to the Fullers Fours Head Westminster well and continued their good form as they placed 2nd and 4th in the B1 coxed fours, whilst also placing 4th in the Junior Coxed Fours B2. Some strong sweeping events that the club was able to produce over the winter and hopefully they can produce some over the School’s Head.
Walton RC
The second club racing takes a step away from the schools category and is the only club in a largely academic field. The club have been slowly chipping away on their winter season; being based at the upper Thames means dealing with an above average flow rate but that hasn’t affected their winter as they continue to place well at events across the country. Opening their season at Fours head with a dominant performance in the coxed fours B2 taking the win over Emanuel by 8 seconds. Further down the line Walton put in an entire fleet to take on Hampton Head race. Taking 4th in the Open School/ Junior Coxed fours out of nine crews. Whilst staying strong in the Open School/ Junior Pairs with a 2nd and a 7th place. Sending three crews into the Open School/ Junior Coxless Fours proved to work well for the squad as they left with a podium place 2nd, whilst also finishing 8th and 17th. The club have been putting the work in with the junior sweepers and will be hoping it can be enough to face off against the well funded schools at the river.
Winchester College
Winchester College have flown largely under the radar in terms of the national head races and the main ones that are on the flight path of every main club or institute. Instead they choose to keep themselves to themselves over the winter and have made a featured appearance in the Schools Head. The club, that was officially founded in 1867, claims to have a preference to the summer regattas and then looks towards Henley Royal further down the line. Making the club an outsider and one that the crews will not have met before over the winter making for some interesting racing and the potential for a dark horse to take center stage.
King’s College School
The next school to contend with is another London based group. King’s College School’s boathouse is situated in Putney allowing the crew to be extremely familiar to the surrounding waters. The school have had a busy winter having competed across the board. Their winter started off back in October when they put in a big start to the winter with Pairs Head, taking an impressive win in the Open J18 Intermediate Doubles as well as 4th, 7th, 11th and 18th. The winter continued in their favour as they arrived at the Fours Head as they came 5th in the Junior Coxed Fours B1 but taking a win in the Coxless Junior Fours B1 category beating Saint Pauls by 41 seconds. The club continued to keep up the good form entering Hampton Head. The event is a draw for junior crews and King’s are no exception, they claimed a victory in the Open School/ Junior Pairs whilst taking 4th, 11th and 22nd as well. Whilst also winning the Open School/ Junior Eights to name the noticeable results. Their season continued into Quintin Head where they were again victorious in the J16 Eights. So far the winter season of the King’s College has been extremely strong and they will be looking towards the final winter race and hope to take that as well.
Tideway Scullers’ School
Tideway Scullers’ School have made quite the name for themselves over time and their strength can be seen in their junior squad and the season so far that they’ve paved for themselves. Their season can be highlighted at the Fours Head as they took third in the Junior Fours B2. Then again bringing an impressive fleet to the Hampton Head Race as Tideway came 6th in the Open School/ Junior Pairs and taking an impressive victory in the Open School/ Junior Fours finishing ahead of Hampton by 34 seconds.
Hampton School
The final school making an appearance will be the Hampton School. The school rowing programme has proved very successful and put in a very big showing at their own head race when they seized a win in the Open School / Junior Four, 5th in the Open School/ Junior Pair; a very strong performance in the Open School/ Junior Eights by way of second place and a second in the Second Eights. A second in the J16 Eights to top it all off.
Prediction
Overall I think that the race will prove to be a very interesting one and a fight that will be worth the watch. However said King’s College School have had such a noticeable winter that I believe they will be the ones able to take the title away from the day.
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