This is one of the first few races of the season. As many schools / clubs start training at different times and as athlete fitness varies, this race will be hard to accurately predict.
The obvious favourites for this event are Victor Kleshnev, Eduardo Marshal, Harrison Rowe and Elliott Kemp. These four boys were all in last year’s Maidenhead quad and are very experienced scullers. All represented GB this summer at the Junior Worlds or Coupe and are likely in pretty good shape after a summer of intense training. Out of the four, Victor, son of famous rower and founder of “BioRow”, Valery Kleshnev, is my favourite for the event. Victor won a silver at the Junior Worlds in Trakai and is currently at the very top of British junior sculling.
There are a number of entries from Star & Arrow Club. Star & Arrow are a factory for good scullers. Last year their quad performed well at Henley and was competing with the likes of Windsor Boys and Maidenhead. Star & Arrow will be looking to establish themselves early on in the season and prove that they are up to the challenge of competing alongside some of the best scullers in Great Britain.
There are also a number of entries from St Paul’s. Although they do not typically focus on sculling, St Paul’s consistently churns out results in the 8+. In fact, a number of the boys entered in this category hail from the 8+ that won the Queen Mother Cup at National Schools’ last May. Having gone to Coupe, Cameron McInroy and Leo von Malaise are likely to be the strongest scullers in this group. They won the 8+ at Coupe and are amongst the stronger sweep rowers in the country, but are yet to make their mark as top scullers. They’ll be excited to have the chance to race some of the more established scullers from Maidenhead, SAA and Henley Rowing Club.
There are also a handful of entries from Eton and Winchester. Although both of these schools have been key players in British junior rowing in recent years, both schools have lost most, if not all, of their last year crew members. Only two boys from last year’s Eton eight and the cox of last year’s Winchester eight remain. We can, therefore, assume that the entries in this category will be mostly J17. Given the strength of Eton’s J16 squad in 2017, it will be interesting to see how they fare against the more experienced scullers and sweep rowers.
Alfie Craig of Dulwich College and Felix Iggo and Oscar Olsen of KCS may also feature. All three were eligible to trial last year and proved their strength and skill in the various stages of the trials process. They should not be underestimated.
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