After three years of consecutive cancellation due to adverse weather and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race will finally make its return to the tideway. It is exciting to see such a wide entry into this category, demonstrating the rapid growth that women’s rowing is currently experiencing.
As is often the case with beginner categories, quite little is known about the crews that have chosen to enter the event. But for all of them, the race provides an exciting opportunity to race on one of the most prestigious stretches of water amongst the country’s top women’s eights. Furthermore, the decision of the committee to extend the eligibility period for beginner crews by one year, meaning they would qualify as beginners if they started rowing after March 2019, will result in quite a spread in the ability levels amongst crews, as some may have had an additional (but disrupted) year of rowing.
Imperial College BC
If predictions were to be made purely on placings at the recent BUCS Fours & Eights Head, the women from ICBC would be the ones to beat. They put in a storming performance to take the bronze medal in the women’s beginner eight ahead of the likes of Durham, Manchester, and York, all of whom are racing in this same category. Furthermore, racing on their home stretch, they will understand the importance of laying down a marker early in their rowing career and defending their home turf.
Durham University BC
The Durham University women’s squad had great success a couple of weeks ago at the BUCS Fours & Eights Head, placing fourth in the Women’s Beginner Eight category, and a silver medal in the Women’s Beginner Coxed Four. With much of their training taking place on the Tyne, they will be used to dealing with conditions like those experienced on the Tideway. These recent strong results should give them some good momentum to deliver a competitive performance on Saturday.
St Paul’s Girls’ School BC
It is interesting to see that St Paul’s Girls’ School have chosen to enter the Beginner Academic category, as opposed to the school/junior category. While this may be their coach making the decision based on knowing their competence, the extension of the eligibility period may also have allowed some leeway in the potential for entering perhaps a slightly younger crew into the race and enable them to compete amongst a fairer field. Whatever the reason, it is exciting to see that this boat club has the depth to enter two eights into the event and will be a great first WeHORR experience for these slightly younger athletes.
Wolfson College & University College, Oxford
It is always good to see the college boat clubs entering the key Tideway races, with their campaigns often overshadowed by the world-renowned Oxbridge Boat Race. These crews are both high up in the draw, suggesting that they may be slightly more experienced, putting them in good stead for competitive racing. Perhaps we could see a 1-2 podium finish from the Oxford University students.
Prediction
Due to these crews all being made up of athletes who are relatively new to rowing, there are not many past performances from which judgement can be made to predict what result we will see at the weekend. Nonetheless, I would expect to see Durham and Imperial battling it out for the top space given their result from a few weeks ago. However, the eventual result will come down to whichever crew is able to draw on their fitness on the day, as well as deal with whatever conditions they might experience through the duration of the championship course.
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