St Paul’s School- The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup 2014

Coach

Bobby Thatcher

Crew

1. Marco Hughes
2. Stijn DeGraaf
3. Piers Kasas
4. Seb Benzacry 
5. George Horrell
6. Arthur Doyle
7. Max Lawaczek 
8. Dom Hopkins Powell

C. Peter Burke-Smith

Recent Results

1st place at the Schools Head of the River in CH8+

6th place at Wallingford Regatta in Challenge Eights

Additional Information

St Paul’s are the great mystery of this year. They looked so dominant during the head season albeit with home advantage and their win at the Schools Head of the River cemented their position as the top junior eight in the country. Since then, they appear to have lost a lot of confidence after a relatively poor showing at Wallingford Regatta and they failed to final in Championship Eights or Championship Coxed Fours at National Schools, having won the latter event by 21 seconds at the Fours Head of the River. They’ll be hoping to turn things around for Henley but, looking at the time left, I find it unlikely that they are suddenly going to find serious speed. They’ve got great athletes, including Stijn DeGraaf and Arthur Doyle who have been invited to GB Final Trials, but it just hasn’t clicked this summer.

My Prediction

I’d love St Pauls to prove everyone wrong; they certainly have the ability but something is holding them back for whatever reason. I think they’ll make the Thursday, presuming they don’t draw Abingdon or Eton on the Wednesday, and a Friday would be a good result.

This photo was taken from- http://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/news/schools-head-2014

About The Author

Tom Morgan

Tom is the Founder of JRN. He has been creating content around rowing for over a decade and has been fortunate enough to witness some of the greatest athletes and races to ever grace our sport.

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