After a hectic week at the National Schools’ Regatta, which saw some of the best racing the event has ever staged, we’re now eagerly awaiting a fantastic month of rowing. With some interesting results at the Metropolitan Regatta, including Abingdon’s top crew racing a quad at the expense of the eight, we’re now looking ahead to Henley Women’s Regatta and Marlow Regatta in just under two weeks time.
After an impressive performance at Dorney, Lucy Glover and her Warrington cohort will be looking to build upon this success. Glover is the current holder of the junior women’s single so it’ll be interesting to see what she enters at the showcase event. Shiplake Vikings and Glasgow Schools will also likely contest the junior women’s quads as a warm-up for the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Sculls event at Henley Royal Regatta.
Meanwhile, Dorney will play host to hundreds of junior, club and student rowers at Marlow Regatta as crews make the last adjustments to their speed before HRR. On the junior circuit, Eton choose to race pairs at the Metropolitan whilst St Paul’s and Westminster did not boat top crews on the Sunday. Shrewsbury and Shiplake battled it out, with the former coming out on top in Open Eights.
After a stunning sunset battle at Dorney Lake, it’ll be fascinating to watch Westminster and Eton continue their rivalry on the famous Henley stretch. After failing to secure the historic triple last year, the boys in pink are once again two-thirds of the way there but face strong competition from Eton, Radley, Shiplake and St Paul’s. The latter had a disappointing race at championship level, but recovered well to secure a silver in Championship Coxed Fours and a convincing gold in Championship Pairs.
Claire’s Court rowed a mature and composed race to win Championship Quads ahead of the ever-green Windsor Boys and a powerful crew from Leander Club. That victory was a long time in the making for Tom Jost and his boys, but there’ll have their work cut out to win the Fawley Challenge Cup. With foreign interest expected, Claire’s Court will also face the increased attentions of their closest rivals.
All in all, a pretty exciting few weeks!
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