On Sunday, sixteen J15 eights will take to the water at Dorney for one of the best-named trophies in all of schoolboy rowing, the iconic ‘Co-operative Funeralcare Trophy’. For most of these crews, it will be their first multi-lane race of the year. With most of the J15 head racing season cancelled and with crews straight back from training camps, it will likely be some tight racing. These crews will be ready to leave it all on the water and show the rest of the country who the front runners are for this season.
King’s College School Boat Club
This King’s College School (KCS) crew has had a run of bronze medals recently: they placed third at Quintin head, third at Hampton Head and most recently, third at the J15 Schools’ Head of the River (SHoRR) replacement event at Dorney. With them being straight out the Spanish sun and having acquired a ‘new whip’ the crew will want to push off their previous results and claim some shinier medals. The crew has had lots of time to formulate their speed together and with the rates higher and the splits (hopefully) lower, the King’s crew will be hungry for more.
Hampton School Boat Club
Hampton clearly have one of the best J15 squads they have ever had. They placed second at the SHoRR replacement event, as well as winning at home at Hampton Head. Fresh off their French camp with a new rig in the boat, this crew like KCS will be looking to claim some golds. Most recently their performance at the BASHER Regatta led them to the B Final alongside their equivalent at St Paul’s School. They clearly have had a productive training camp being able to bridge the thirty-one second gap between them and first place at Dorney before Easter. With Hampton continuing to press on these boys are in a very strong position for not only this weekend but the rest of the season.
Radley College Boat Club
The red and white army have huge shoes to fill after last year’s successes with their J15 squad. So far this season they have performed fairly well, placing fourth at the SHoRR replacement but it’s likely that this is far off where they wanted to be. Most recently at BASHER the crew had some disappointing results losing to the St Paul’s second eight in what was described as being ‘bow ball to bow ball down the entire course’. Knowing Radley though, if anyone can mount a comeback it will be them. This weekend is a crucial time to start turning the gears up for a late surge in speed and one that I’m sure Radley will leap on.
Westminster School Boat Club
Westminster School showed promise over the head season, having placed fourth at Quintin Head and second in Hampton Head in the eights event, after winning the coxed quads that morning. More impressively still, in their second eight they were able to grab a silver, demonstrating some depth of squad. Westminster will be a wild card this weekend and without a lot of racing under their belts they could triumph in the face of adversity, or crack under the pressure.
Predictions
In conclusion, I think that this weekend will give the top-level competitors a chance to show themselves. I also think that this racing will be really tight with only fifteen seconds separating fourth place Radley from second place finishers Hampton. Overall though, I don’t think you could look past a Hampton win, followed by a KCS second place and Radley in third.
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