Wallingford Regatta this Sunday is the kick off to summer regattas. As Nat Schools this year is at Eton Dorney, Wallingford regatta could not be more perfect for practice on the course. It is now the beginning of May so clubs and schools are looking to set into their summer crews and they are definitely showing that in this event. The wind is picking up during the day, so the heats at 3 o’clock will need to put in a good time in order to secure a good lane in the finals at 6. There are 12 crews entered and I’m excited to see what results come out as it will set up what Nat Schools , Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regatta are going to look like this year.
Henley- Focusing on the eight as their top crew in the most recent races like The Scullery, it will be interesting to see who they put in this crew. However Henley’s crew at The Scullery wasn’t their fastest girls yet they secured 5th place, just beating the Latymer Upper A crew. Henley do have an eight entered in school eights and if the same girls in the eight are being entered in the quad it has not slowed them down before and I’m sure it won’t on Sunday.
Warrington- Warrington made their mark and showed everyone that they want to dominate in junior women’s quads at The Scullery, coming second to the very strong Headington. Warrington are in the second heat alongside Shiplake Vikings and Henley so it will be a tough heat, if they are able to push off them and secure a competitive time they are one of my favourite’s to win.
Latymer Upper School- Latymer have continuously been showing this year they are racing junior women’s quads and their determination is showing in their results. Achieving 6th place back to back at School’s Head and The Scullery shows that fitness and endurance are not their weaknesses. I’m sure Latymer will be looking to step it on again on Sunday and I’m looking forward to see the improvements they have made in the last 2 months leading up to this race.
Shiplake Vikings- This crew are, like Latymer, familiar faces in the junior women’s quad circuit, they came 5th at Schools Head which may be a step down for the crew from their 2nd place at Fours Head. They will be looking to secure a good result this Sunday in the lead up to summer racing and if they can get a decent time in the heats then I think they can secure a place in top 3.
Bedford Girl’s School & Kings School Worcester- I’m excited to see how these 2 crews do as they were one second apart at Schools Head. The times produced will be a real representation of how productive Easter training has been for these clubs, but also what times they are putting out for the summer.
SASRU- The South African School Rowing Union are on their England tour and it will be exciting to see international crews at this spring regatta. They competed last year and produced some competitive results.
My prediction for Sunday is Warrington to take the win, followed by Henley and Shiplake Vikings.
Good Luck to all crews racing !
Bowball
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