The established order is broken. Gloucester, for so long the untouchable, the indomitable, the unattainable, are now the vanquished, defined only by their conspicuous absence. Now, new challengers must rise, a straight dogfight for the crown
Y Quad Cities Rowing Association
This crew has come all the way form the USA, to compete next week at the prestigious event of HRR. Their stand out athlete in the crew is Caroline Sharis, a junior world champion in 2016. Daleney Evans also won gold in the U19 world indoor championships earlier this year. Despite not knowing huge amounts about the club or the crew I think I can safely say that they are an outfit to watch out for. The girls at Y Quad Cities have been winning domestic events – they’re national champions in the USA – and I don’t think they will have too many worries about competition over here either. From what we can see so far of this crew we will certainly be looking to see them establish themselves as strong competitors in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.
Henley RC
With one of the strongest junior squads in the country, Henley are definitely among the favourites to win at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta. The girl’s ‘A’ quad has taken wins at the Wallingford Regatta, National Schools’ Regatta and Henley Women’s Regatta most recently, demonstrating their indomitable strength and determination as a crew. It will be really exciting to see whether the girls are able to become the crew to topple the Gloucester monopoly, and complete what has been an incredibly successful season of racing.
Latymer Upper School
The girl’s from Latymer have had a stand-out year with superb results across the board. From a win at School’s Head of the River in a a record-breaking time, we then saw their crews place second at both National Schools’ Regatta and Junior Sculling Regatta. Most recently, last weekend we saw an outstanding performance at Henley Women’s Regatta where they beat off competition from Sir William Perkins and Marlow to make the final, missing out by 3/4 of a length to Henley. The girls in this squad seem to have immense power and determination, going head to head with Henley all year. Latymer have had at least two highly competitive crews in all events this year – they’re touted to have the fastest ‘B’ boat in the country. I think they will definitely be looking for a place in the final next week.
Tideway Scullers School
After a year of well earned results TSS will certainly be looking to finish their season on a high. A fourth-place finish at the National Schools’ Regatta followed fifth at the School’s Head of the River so it is safe to say the girls have been training hard against this year’s competition. At Henley Women’s Regatta last weekend the crew narrowly missed out in their quarter final to Headington, who have gone from strength to strength over the past couple of months. Izzy Lack is a valuable member of the crew as she competed at Munich last month and training for further trailing – this crew has been solid throughout the year and I expect to see it pay off next week with a finish in the semi finals, which will be a well deserved way to end the season from the girls.
Glasgow Academy
After what I’m sure must be the longest bus journey to get to Henley Royal Regatta, these girls will definitely be bringing some high level competition to the local crews this year. They have had a successful year with an eighth-placed finish at Junior Sculling Regatta whilst they won their first heat at Henley Women’s Regatta saw them win their first heat. I think however they will be prepped to compete next week , with the club having had prior high-level experience on the straights of Henley, and will have had an opportunity to observe their competition and help improve their performance in order to gain a place in a semi final.
Headington School
Headington are also known for their prowess, and this year both the A and B crews have had successes, most notably at National Schools’ Regatta, with the B crew winning the D final and the A crew making the A final, though not managing to get a medal. The Headington quad also reached the quarter-finals at Henley Women’s Regatta, competing against the Henley crew which eventually won the event. It has seemed that Headington’s strength generally lies in their performances in the eight, so it will be interesting to see how the quad does.
Marlow RC
Marlow have also had some very strong performances this season. The quad won their event at the Junior Sculling Regatta and took second place at Wallingford Regatta behind the Henley crew. They also reached the quarter-finals at Henley Women’s Regatta and took third place in the A final at National School’s Regatta – a solid set of results. I’d say that with these results behind them these girls are set for success, so it will be interesting to see them hold their own against such tough competition.
Sydney RC, Australia
The Sydney RC crew as entered has only been together as a crew since the start of the year, however performances so far have been very promising. Both Ella Hudson and India Thompson raced in the JW 4x at 2017 Henley Women’s Regatta, where their quad was beaten in the semi-finals by Gloucester Hartpury, who went on to win the event. In 2017 the girls also took silver at the Holland Beker Regatta in the 4x. Carmody, Hudson and Thompson raced in the 4x at the 2018 National Regatta where they took second place, and Graham also raced in this regatta. At the 2018 Edward Trickett Regatta, the quad of Carmody, Hudson, Thompson and Graham won their B grade race. Given the individual achievements of each of the crew members, I’m sure that they will perform well in their upcoming races.
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