Here we are, the start of the new season. Vesta Scullers’ head is always an interesting one due to being right at the start of the season, some people may have trained over summer, whilst others may have taken some well-deserved time off and approached this race with a different mindset. Regardless of this, there are still some big names entered in the junior boy’s single who will do battle over this gruelling 6.8km course on the tideway stretch.
Hereford Cathedral School Boat Club
The first of 2 Hereford Cathedral School scullers is William Morgan-Jones, coming off the back of a very positive J17 year I am sure William will have his sights set extremely high this season. William and the other Hereford sculler came 2nd at the National Schools’ Regatta 2022 in the Ch2x behind a rapid Windsor Boys Crew who set the course record. With this in mind, I reckon he will be aiming for the top places come Saturday. The second, but by no means worse sculler is Innes Jackson , I am confident that there will be some inter-club bragging rights on the line at this race so neither will give an inch on the race course. Being mainly in crew boats of doubles and quads last season it is difficult to accurately predict his pace in a single but I would expect him to be at the sharp end of things for sure!
Westminster School Boat Club
Leading off the field of junior scullers Max Peel, coming from a primarily sweeping school and also being in the 1st VIII last season, which had a very successful season most notably finishing fifth in the Championship Eights. It will be interesting to see how he fairs sculling; this race would be very good preparation for Early IDs held in Boston in November. I would expect Max to place very highly, certainly in the top 5. Can he win? He is certainly a contender!
Shiplake College
Coupe de la Jeunesse winner Freddie Middleton is fresh from Castrelo de Mino after winning gold in the JM8+ back in August! However, he is making the leap from sweep to the single scull on Saturday. There’s no question that he is an excellent rower, but will the notorious tideway choppy water throw him off his game? Only time will tell.
Tideway Scullers School
With an impressive four entries into the event, Tideway Scullers School look to be shooting for the top spot this weekend. With the likes of Morley Pendred and Thomas Patrick competing in the red and yellow after racing the J16 GB vs France fixture last year, these boys clearly have what it takes to be successful scullers. Indy Regan is another one to keep an eye on from the club after he won a silver medal at the National Schools’ Regatta 2022 in the J16 4x. Last to mention (but definitely not least) is Jack Duggan who has joined TSS from Shiplake College- It will be exciting to see how he compares both to his previous and new teammates under the stopwatch. Being based on the tideway means these athletes will have an extra advantage of knowing the water as they go down the tricky twisty course.
Predictions
It is always tough to predict singles events, even more so being this early on in the season. I believe that it will be tight between Max Peel of Westminster, William Morgan-Jones of Hereford, Freddie Middleton of Shiplake and all 4 Tideway Scullers School athletes but as ever be prepared for some unexpected results.
Good luck to all scullers racing, let’s start this season with a bang!
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