Bedford Regatta 2025 – Women’s Junior 18 Quads Preview

One of the oldest regattas in the country, Bedford Regatta celebrates its 171^st birthday this year, and despite its old age, the weekend continues to live up to the promise of nail-biting racing, supplemented by lively crowds of both rowers and locals. Close side-by-side racing that covers 1200m of the River Ouse means more precision is required, and with many local crews entering, the standard is higher than ever this year.

Bedford Modern School Boat Club

With the home advantage, and off the back of beating Bedford Rowing Club at the Junior Sculling Regatta last weekend, Bedford Modern School Boat Club are likely to feel confident coming into this regatta. They have proven their speed repeatedly this season already, coming 16^th at the Junior Sculling Head, finishing just over 20 seconds after their competitors this weekend, Oundle School Boat Club. However, Bedford Modern School Boat Club arguably have less sculling experience than their competition, as they chose to race an eight at Schools’ Head of the River Race this year, finishing 10^th in the girls’ school’s first eight category. Despite not purely focussing on sculling, with such promising results so early in the season I anticipate Bedford Modern School Boat Club will be highly competitive this weekend.

Oundle School Boat Club

A school not historically known for their rowing, Oundle School Boat Club are on the rise, and none of their crews more than their Women’s Junior 18 quad. The girls’ squad have been showing impressive improvement, from placing second in C-final at the National Schools’ Regatta last season, beating their competition this weekend City of Cambridge Rowing Club, to taking a notable seventh place at the Junior Sculling Head just a couple of months ago, putting themselves in the mix with some of the biggest names on the junior rowing scene. This upward trend pushes me to expect the Oundle girls to be top contenders to qualify for the final, if not to seize first place. As the regatta season continues I am excited to see what else these girls can achieve.

City of Cambridge Rowing Club

Despite their absence from many of the biggest races so far this season, City of Cambridge Rowing Club have been working hard and have collated an impressive repertoire of results in the short period of time since the regatta season begun. Their Junior 16 squad recently took bronze and a fourth place at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta, and their wider squad celebrated a multitude of wins at Cambridge City Sprints. Whilst I am sure that this local experience will provide City of Cambridge with some confidence, it will be interesting to see how they compare to the arguably more experienced and prepared crews, especially on a course that favours home clubs so strongly.

Prediction

I predict the final will almost certainly include some combination of Oundle School Boat Club, City of Cambridge, and Bedford Modern School Boat Club, with a tough battle for gold. However, I anticipate that Oundle School Boat Club will likely take first place this weekend.