After the Vesta Scullers’ Head opened the head season last weekend, our next race takes place further upstream on the Thames, in Wallingford. Competitors will race four kilometres against the stream, with finishing in Wallingford. With only 11 entries it seems that the competitors are all evenly matched, which hopefully will result in exciting racing!
Pangbourne College Boat Club
The two crews from Pangbourne, Maleham and Manley, will be on familiar waters; they are based not too far downstream on the Thames. With a tradition of strong success in small boats during head season, the Pangbourne crews will be hoping to live up to these expectations. They finished strongly last year, qualifying for Henley Royal Regatta and hovering in and around the A-finals. Their experience on Thames waters will come in handy on Saturday.
Lea Rowing Club
All three Lea crews, Griffith, Lorello, and Marsden, were put together from scratch at the beginning of September, so it remains to be seen how they will fare in their first race of the season. Nevertheless, Lea have also had strong results in small boats, and the Griffith crew has a Brit Champs’ gold medallist from the J16 2x. Their lack of significant experience on the Thames, apart from racing on the Tideway and at Henley, may well put them at a disadvantage against Thames-based crews.
St Paul’s School Boat Club
Just one entry from St. Paul’s here, but with their calibre and stature it would be wrong to rule them out. Despite being world-renowned for their sweep rowing, St Paul’s have also shown themselves more than capable of sculling; just look at their results from the Vesta Scullers’ Head, where they had 2 category winners. Rowing on the Tideway gives them plenty of experience of the adverse conditions one often finds there, something that will be useful for them on race day.
Prediction
I think it’s very difficult to see anything other than a win for Pangbourne, but for which crew exactly? They are practically on home waters and do very well in small boats at this time of year. As for second place, I expect a close fight between St. Paul’s and Lea, with Magdalen College School and Royal Grammar School High Wycombe also set to perform well.
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