Wallingford is the first of many head races this season and a fantastic opportunity for coaches to try out new combinations and assess the way new rowers approach racing. The 4250m stretch of river is home to the notorious Oxford Brookes boathouse and Oxford University Boat Club and will host Wallingford Head later on this year (which we will also be covering). The junior women’s single category will be one of the most competitive events as junior GB trialists prepare for Early Identification trials in November, the head will be largely used by rowers to assess where they stand against other trialists from rival clubs. The step up from J16 to senior is a big one and no doubt there will be several J17’s racing in this J18 category, the pressure is on to see how they can perform against the top dogs of junior women’s racing.
Headington
Headington have the most entries out of any school or club in this event with an impressive 8 athletes racing. Half of these athletes (Victoria Gothard, Amarna Milne, Trudie Marks and Cordelia Mahony) raced in Headington’s Championship eight last year at National Schools. A Quad containing Gothard, Milne and Mahony raced a scratch crew at last year’s National Sculling Head and placed a commendable 5th, ahead of Henley B, Surbiton and Latymer. Gothard and Marks were bow pair of the Women’s Junior quad which placed third at The National Schools Regatta and reached the final of the Diamond Jubilee at Henley Royal Regatta last year, beating Tideway Scullers who were the Henley women’s winners and favourites to win the Royal. With such a strong history of fast sculling boats in this squad I have no doubt Headington will be looking for top spots this weekend and it will definitely be interesting to see how their singles performances compare to their quads.
Henley
The quad containing Hannah Hills won championship quads at National Schools however, they had a disappointing end to their season last year after losing speed in the run up to Henley Women’s regatta and the Royal. The top quad was knocked out by Latymer in the semi final of HRR with a verdict of 2 1/2 lengths. Rowley raced in Henley’s second eight last year and finished 5th in the A final. Luke and Cotton had a very successful run in the J16 eight finishing first. Henley have a solid reputation of being fierce racers over a 2k course so it will definitely be interesting to see how the athletes cope with the steering demands of the Wallingford course. These girls should be looking for a strong performance this year, provided the J17s in the pack aren’t phased by racing older athletes.
Latymer Upper School
Latymer have a total of four athletes entered in this event, three of which raced in the silver medal winning championship eight last year at National Schools. Lloyd, Coomber and Warham were last year’s bow three and will have gained a lot of experience racing as J17s in a championship event, this knowledge of the huge step up from j16 to senior racing will be an advantage to any athlete competing tomorrow. Scavazza-Murphy raced in the bow seat of Latymer’s coxless four at National Schools and just missed out on the medal table after placing fourth, less than a second behind Putney. Lloyd and Warham were stroke and bow of Latymer’s top quad which was victorious at Henley Royal Regatta, after a rocky start to their Henley preparation at National Schools the girls were quick to turn around this result in just under 6 weeks.
With such a high calibre of junior women racing this weekend I have no doubt the results will be tight. Many crews will be rate-capped as coaches find ways to assess individual performances fairly, so Wallingford will be a great chance to blow away the cobwebs and begin the start of a very fast but very unpredictable 2019-20 season.
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