The Wallingford course always provides interesting racing for crews – the almost notorious s-bends and the pretty legendary Brookes straight are just a few highlights that everyone racing this weekend has to look forward to. Wallingford Head is definitely a big date in the pre-Christmas racing calendar and all crews will want to show off to their competition here. Given that the forecast on race day is for bright but chilly conditions with some breeze on the course, there will be plenty of challenges for the J16 4+ entries to contend with.
The J16 4+ category contains just ten boats. This feels like a bit of a shame because only seven schools have put crews in to 4+ with some of the larger rowing schools, such as Shrewsbury and Shiplake opting for the J16 8+ category instead.
However, there are still some great boats to watch out for in the J16 4+ and I have to start by mentioning Latymer Upper who are fielding not just one, but two, fours on Sunday. I’m calling Latymer to take a win with a possible one-two on cards. Newton‘s boat looks like the more likely contender but I suspect this could be Latymer fielding parallel crews as a bit of pre-Christmas boat club rivalry.
Of course, you can never ignore a 4+ from Henley RC and the crews from Dulwich and Winchester are a unknown quantity but will definitely want to get in the mix. However, at this stage of the season and with such a small entry, the placings could really go to anyone who pulls it together on the day.
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