The Wallingford Long Distance Sculls returns once again this year on the 30th September and will take place on a picturesque 4.25km section of the Thames, finishing near OUBC. For some, this race will mark the beginning of the 2023/24 season, whilst for others it will be another opportunity to race following a performance at the Sculler’s Head last weekend. That said, this early on in the year, it’s quite hard to predict how crews will stand so early into the season.
Royal Grammar School High Wycombe BC
RGS High Wycombe BC returns to Wallingford LDS for the first time since 2021, entering two crews into the J16 4x- event. Despite this head race being the beginning of the season for RGS High Wycombe, the stroke of one of the two boats, Joseph Smith, was part of a solid J15 4x crew last year that placed 9th in the B Final at the National Schools’ Regatta last year. The other boat racing this weekend is likely to contain members of a crew that placed 16th in the A Final of the same category. More senior crews at RGS High Wycombe have enjoyed success at NSR before, so it will be interesting to see how these two crews mature through the season.
Magdalen College School BC
Much like with RGS High Wycombe, Wallingford LDS is Magdalen College School BC’s first chance this year to see how they hold up against other crews. Although not the most consistent performers at National Schools’, Magdalen College School BC did manage to push their J15 2nd 4x into 16th place, meaning that the new J16 crew will come into this race fresh after a summer of training and with something to prove, hoping to better their last year’s results this year.
American School in London BC
Although J15 boys from the American School in London did not race at NSR last year, the school has a consistently good base of performance at the competition and the J16 quad from last year went on to place 15th in their category. Not only this, but the ASL also has impressive facilities at the University of London boathouse, along with large swathes of the Tideway to practise on. Though the Tideway is very different to the stretch of the river they will be rowing on this weekend, both geographically and in the challenges it poses – I am sure that the crew from the American School in London will be able to bring some serious competition to Wallingford.
Prediction:
We always see ups and downs at the start of head racing season, because there are so many more factors than pure athletic ability that go into deciding the winning crew. You might say it’s the same thing in regatta season, and though this is true – head season takes all these differentiating factors: steering, mental fatigue etc. and amplifies their importance by about 200%. However, I think that the American School in London will emerge victorious given the overall relative strength of this crew, closely followed by one of the RGS High Wycombe crews.
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