Preview of the Thames Valley Trial Head taking place at Dorney this weekend. Distance is only 1900m so should give us a good idea of how well crews are doing on the shorter distances. Interesting to see the results as the Thames has been un-rowable since just before Christmas.
J18.4x-
Only 5 entries for this event.
Marlow (J17)
Likely to be the fastest Junior Quad assuming it is the same quad as HOR4s. Should most definitely take the J17 title and it wouldn’t surprise me if they also beat all the J18 crews. Good luck to them.
Hinskey Sculling School
Likely to win this event if it is the same crew as HOR4s. This crew came 11th at HOR4s and are unlikely to be beaten this weekend. However fitness levels may have dropped over the Christmas period, I would hope that everyone should be nearing full fitness again.
Windsor Boys School
Likely to take 2nd as I don’t think the American School will be much competition. The boys finished 20th at HOR4s and so should take 2nd place pretty easily. If they don’t it will be a great surprise.
J18 2x
Quite a good standard of entry for this one, with the likes of Westminster, Windsor Boys and Marlow all present. The Westminster doubles will certainly be fast in division 2 although I’m not sure if Cam Kerr or Sam Meijer are racing. The White twins from WBS always go fast although their results so far this year have been a little disappointing. Lets hope they can start a run of form here. The RS High Wycomve double of Tom Commins and Rob Eyres have been together for quite a while and I think these boys will be looking for the win. They raced a quad at HRR last year, losing out on the Wednesday to the Dutch national champions. I’m going to stick my neck out here and pick High Wycombe for the win although it’ll be very tight.
J181x
Some other good scullers here. The White twins are always good bets, as James White won J171x at NSR last year. Hugh White came 20th at Early ID while James finished 36th. Aldridge from Christchurch is an excellent sculler and has recorded various wins throughout his career. I’ve never seen him race in anything but a single hence his proficiency. Additionally Bott from Hinksey always gives a good account of himself. I think this is between the White twins and Aldridge.
WJ18.4x-
Eton Excelsior (Hatfield)
All hail the current best Junior Women’s Quad in the country. Very unlikely that the girls won’t walk away with the title. Very little competition for these girls in this age group, especially as the Marlow top quad aren’t competing by the looks of things.
Weybridge (WJ17)
Although they are in a different category, these girls could be seen as Eton’s only competition. After taking 4th place at HOR4s, these girls are clearly strong contenders and should definitely take the title in the WJ17 category.
WJ18.2x
Marlow
Last years WJ16 2x champions at NSR, Marlow are unlikely to be beaten this weekend. They have proved they can move their quad quite fast so it should be easily transferred into the double.
Sir William Borlase
Likely to take 2nd after an impressive result at HOR4s. Hopefully, like Marlow, they can easily transfer into the double
J16.4x-
Maidenhead
Definitely the favourites for this event. This Quad did extremely well at the recent Henley Sculls where they lost the event by 20 seconds, despite having only 3 people in the boat (yes that is correct), to a very strong Sir William Borlase Quad. Not much other competition in the event as most crews seem to be newly formed and probably wont pose much of a threat to Maidenhead. Will be interesting to see who takes 2nd place.
J16.2x
Maidenhead are once again quite likely to take this event, the only people to have beaten them in the double this year, Tiffin, aren’t competing so should be an easy win for Maidenhead
Good luck to all competitors!
This photo was taken from http://www.mikrotime.com/rowing/row2012/martvth12.html
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