It’s another small group of clubs this weekend in an admittedly niche category of the Wallingford LDS. The benefit of this specific age category is it will give us a chance to see who the rising stars are in this brand new cadre of seniors. With over half of the fifteen entries being from one club, it’ll certainly be an interesting lineup.
Marlow RC
Although, like most of the clubs entered, we have had little evidence of the rising seniors’ skill in smaller boats, Marlow had considerable sculling success over the summer. Their (formerly) J16 Quad won at Henley Women’s Regatta against Kingston Sculling School, and placed second in the senior quads at Henley Royal. Clearly strong sculling skills are par for the course with the new Marlow seniors, so good results in singles are looking fairly likely.
Headington
With great success in sweep over the summer — including winning the inaugural Junior Womens’ Eights at HRR — Headington’s sculling may have been overlooked by most observers. However, with little evidence of the new Headington seniors’ sculling — or at least more recent information from this sculler — how Headington place may be more of a mystery than usual.
Henley RC
The long-standing rivalry between Henley and Headington was temporarily stalled after Headington beat Henley in the Eights at HRR, but it might well have transferred to the incoming seniors in the sculling boats. However, their J17s will have to overturn the summer’s result at HWR where they were beaten in the semi finals of the J16 quads. Nevertheless, their sculling, and by extension their skill in singles could have been more honed in the time since, and they could well take the lead.
Lady Eleanor Holles
Over half of the competitors are from LEH, so the club is obviously confident in their J17’s sculling ability. Despite their obvious competence in the eights over the summer, how they’re doing in the singles is more of a mystery. Given their keenness to race, a series of strong results are a possibility but they’ll have to overturn their J16 quad’s weaker result when they last sculled, at HWR.
Prediction
Given Marlow RC’s expertise in sculling shown lately, I reckon it’ll be one of their three entries that takes the win. One of the LEH scullers will almost surely place, but the remaining places will have to be fought over between them and Henley — plus the dark horse, Pangbourne, who have less to read about the emerging seniors’ skills.
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