Wallingford Regatta 2023 – Junior 18 Men’s Eights Preview

One of the first summer regattas of the year, Wallingford is this weekend with a huge number of races across a number of events. For the top junior men of the UK, this marks the first field test of newfound race strategies and techniques over the infamous two kilometre distance and venue of Dorney Lake before NSR in four weeks’ time.

Eton College

With the largest entry of three senior eights into this event, Eton College will certainly be looking for the win on their home turf. Eton did not have many athletes at trials this weekend with only one pair left competing in the B final and placing ninth overall. Both senior eights from Eton placed above the middle of the pack at SHORR, in 5th and 4th respectively. Never a crew team to be ruled out and especially not at Dorney, it will be great to see them back to their comfort zone in regatta season where they are regularly known to excel. 

Radley College

Runners up in both premier male eight categories at Schools’ Head, Radley College will certainly have Shiplake in the headlights this weekend. Radley enter their second eight into this event, who lost the second eights event at SHORR by only 2.7 seconds, a margin of only half a split over the 7km course. Making it all the way to the final in the PE last year, Radley has certainly proven their regatta racing skills and so should be formidable down the track.

Shiplake College

The challengers for the triple and warming up the engines for regatta season, Shiplake College have also entered their second eight into this event. At SHORR this crew beat a number of championship and first eights, placing in the top ten overall in a blazing fast time of 17:31.1. Coming out of their second training camp of the year and a massively impressive set of results at April trials last weekend, it will be interesting to see if two trips to Spain has placed them at a significant advantage for regatta-style racing in this part of the year.

St Paul’s School

Placing third in both their first and second eights at SHORR, St Paul’s will definitely have Radley and Shiplake as targets this weekend and for the rest of the season. St Paul’s clearly has an enormously strong sweep squad with four athletes making it to the A final in the pairs at last weekend’s April trials.

Notable Mentions

Notably absent from this event are St Edward’s who have entered both of their senior eights into the Challenge 8+ event, likely to avoid the later race times in the Open Schools Eights. This also pits them against common rivals Shiplake College whose first eight is also in this event, a duel to watch out for! 

Westminster, King’s College, Latymer and Shrewsbury all placed well in both the champ eights and second eights events at SHORR and will be sure to carry this speed into the summer season, battling it out in the middle of the pack and maybe even fighting crews for a spot on the podium. 

With a perfect tie in the second eight’s event with King’s College and a performance to forget in the first eights event, Abingdon School also enter their first eight into this event. A force to be reckoned with in years gone by, perhaps they can bring back some of their speed this summer season…

Outside of the schoolboy rowing programmes, Hinksey Sculling School and Llandaff RC both enter a senior eight into this event, both notably absent from any men’s sweep events at SHORR,  with Llandaff not competing whatsoever. Of note, however, was Llandaff’s performance at Henley Fours and Eights where they beat Shiplake’s second eight.

Finally a huge number of schools hailing from the tideway and further enter another 13 crews into this event, bringing the total to a massive 27 senior eights, nearly 250 athletes! With few races earlier in the season to go off many of these crews remain unknown but are definitely looking at the middle of the pack, struggling to compete with the elite programs.

Predictions

With certainly the most practice over 2k and the home-field advantage, I am sure Eton College will be looking at the podium, if not first, in this event with St Paul’s and Radley definitely making the A final alongside them. Shiplake’s second eight will struggle to beat these crews outright but will almost definitely be looking at the A final as much of their competition is absent from the event. Westminster, Latymer and King’s College should place highly and are definitely some battles to watch out for. 

1. Eton
2. Radley
3. St Paul’s

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