Wallingford Regatta marks the end of the Easter training period, and the beginning of the summer racing season for many, with the exception of those who were lucky enough to race at either Strathclyde or the Junior Sculling Regatta last weekend. Although racing is beginning, final crews are still not set, and this reflects in the entries, with many crews doubling up in the fours and eights, and some exclusively in fours, when an eight will be expected by National Schools. In School 4+’s there are 12 entries, however there are also entries by school crews in Challenge 4-/4+, so we’ll briefly look over those. With the cancellation of school fours at Schools Head, accurate data including many crews is rare, so for many crews there is little to say without a large chunk of guesswork, so I will do what I can.
Shiplake College
With three fours entered – two in school fours and one in challenge 4-’s, as well as a school eight – it is difficult to judge which crews will be in which event. With a win in championship eights at SHORR, and a fourth place in 2nd eights, there are many strong athletes in the squad. My prediction here is that the top boat will be the coxless four, and the 2nd and 3rd boats will be fighting it out in school fours – perhaps matched boats, to help selection decisions. Either way, they will be a fast boat.
Reading Blue Coat School
A program that has been quiet for a while, Blue Coat seem to be making a resurgence this year, with a third place in 1st eights at SHORR. Regardless of this high finish, they have decided to enter two fours instead of an eight, a curious decision; however, this may reflect that they plan on entering school fours at National Schools, one of the few non-championship events left at national schools, thinking they have a better chance of medalling in that event. Will be interesting to see how they fare against other traditional Championship eight schools.
King’s College School
With one entry in School Fours, and another in Challenge 4-, I would suspect that this would be a split of the Challenge 8 entry, mostly made up of their Championship eight from schools head, which finished joint 9th. However these athletes could come from their second eight, which could be racing under school eights, however I don’t really know, but the tideway based school is sure to be fast.
Radley College
After a fifth place finish at SHORR, and always seemingly to find excesses of speed coming into regatta season, Radley are in a good position. They have entered a Challenge 4+ as well as a Schools four, presumably a split from their schools eight. Their second four should be in Schools fours, but nevertheless a good crew.
Westminster School
Westminster school crews have not been up to the benchmark of 2015, however they still have a good pedigree. After winning the junior 4- event at HOR4s, Westminster stated their intent this year. A slightly underwhelming performance at SHORR perhaps, with 7th, but back into two fours at Wallingford, top four in Challenge 4-, second in School 4+, but will still be a fast crew.
St Paul’s School
No entry at age group categories, but an entry in both Challenge 4+ and 4-, and will be aiming to repeat their feat of winning both of these events like last year, however, with lacking the strength that they had last year, I doubt they will be able to manage this feat. Being competitive in these events would demonstrate them stepping on from Head season.
Other Crews
Henley RC – Traditionally a quad club, they have two quads entered here, so the presumption is that this will be athletes 9-12.
St Edwards School – After entering a four at SHORR, there is little information about this boat. Traditionally very fast in the four at this age group (Silver I think at NSR 2017 in J16 fours if I remember rightly) so should be good. Have entered Challenge 4-.
Dulwich – Usually a decent crew, but no recent data to rely on.
Emanuel – Fall into the same category as Dulwich, although have a fair few triallists this year I believe.
King’s Worcester – A bit of an unknown quantity with lack of results
Weybridge – Pretty much the same as King’s Worcester, except less pedigree.
With such a range of crews in, it is hard to see where crews will stand, even more so if there is a productive Easter Break. However I will rank the school crews, as well as where the school crews will be relative to one another in Challenge categories.
School 4s:
- Shiplake
- Westminster
- Radley
Challenge 4+
- St Pauls
- Radley
Challenge 4-
- Shiplake
- St Pauls
- Westmister
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