The Head of the River Amstel was once one of the most prestigious rowing races in the Netherlands. Every year, each club would send its eight best rowers to Amsterdam to battle it out for the Blue Pennant. Over the years, the prestige of the Head has slowly faded, and this is reflected in the entries. This year, not a single student rowing club has entered its best men’s eight.
One person who still considers the Head of the River to be an important race is Mark Emke. This year, the race organisers have persuaded him to let “his” two Deutschland-Achter line up at the start, and they will be the clear favourites to take home the Blue Pennant.
It appears that of the two eights, Germany 1 is the priority boat. This eight is almost identical to the eight that travelled to World Championships in Shanghai last summer as one of the contenders for gold but surprisingly missed the final.
Germany 2 seems more like a development boat with younger and somewhat less experienced rowers. It is to be expected that these men will give their teammates in the other boat a hard time, but that they will come away with second place.
Of the Dutch eights that have entered the Elite and Intermediate fields, De Hoop appears to be the favourite to be the best of the rest. With a mix of rowers who have been participating in its programme for several years and have already been to Henley for the Hoop, and newcomers to the club, the Amsterdam team seems to be gearing up for a season that will end with a run at the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley.
