With 18 women’s crews entered into the School 4+ event, Wallingford looks to be a very competitive regatta. As the first major regatta of the season it will be interesting to see which crews end up battling it out in the final for the Meadows Cup. Last year we saw the girls from Henley take the win, an impressive 12 seconds ahead of Marlow. Putney found themselves just inside the medal table with a commendable third place, Sir William Borlase narrowly missed the bronze by 0.4 seconds. The regatta is excellent practice for junior crews racing at National Schools later this month, as they get their first taste of multi-lane racing this season, and get an idea of where they place nationally against other strong contenders.
Putney High School
After last year’s bronze medal, the girls from Putney High School will definitely be reaching for the higher end of the medals this year. They achieved first place at Hammersmith Head earlier on in the season. After a very successful 2018 in fours , with two boats reaching the final of the school G4+ category at the National Schools Regatta, it will be interesting to see if they are be able to stay at the top this summer. Some of Putney’s more recent achievements include first and sixth in the WJ18 Championship 2- and second in WJ18 club 2x at Pairs head of the river earlier in October, Putney will have gained valuable experience on the Tideway at Pairs Head so the pressure is on to see if they can perform just as well this Sunday.
Henley
The girls from Henley have had a very successful start to their season. They kicked off March with an impressive double win at Schools’ Head in both the Championship and School eight categories. Due to the Women’s Head cancellation last month it’s difficult to say really where they stand going into regatta season, but with such a close result with the Lady Eleanor Holles eight at Schools’ Head it looks like the fight for the gold medal will be between these two crews later this season. We can expect some big things from this crew over the weekend.
Kingston
I will definitely expect to see the girls from Kingston to be medalling this weekend and will be strong contenders at National Schools Later this month. Kingston dominated J16 fours last year, sending their top four athletes to the Gb vs France match to race in the four following their phenomenal win at National Schools Regatta. They seem to have, once again, come out in full force this season with a very convincing win in the Junior Women’s championship fours category at Fours head of the river earlier this month.
Wallingford is a fantastic opportunity for both athletes and coaches alike to gain essential experience and confidence for the upcoming summer racing. Many crews will use this as a practice 2k for both National Schools and Henley Royal, two of the most prestigious events in junior rowing. A few more clubs to keep an eye on this Sunday are: Godolphin & Latymer School, Sir William Perkins’s School and Emanuel School.
My predictions for the medals are:
- Henley RC
- Putney High School
- Kingston
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