Tuesday Reviews
Claire’s Court School vs The King’s School, Chester
Claires Court and Kings Chester, not very common names at the PE at Henley Royal both came through qualifiers to earn their places in the heats. This Claires Court Boat is their second crew behind the quad, and put up a solid fight against King’s Chester, but fell short after the End of the Island. Claires Court had a very punchy start, whereas King’s Chester bided their time and slowly settled into their mid-race rhythm which carried them through to a lead of one and a quarter lengths at rate 36. King’s Chester maintained a high rate throughout, extending their lead to three lengths by the Mile, with the final verdict being a three-length lead for King’s Chester. This was a pretty impressive result for Claires Court who, as a B crew, have managed to qualify and get within 12 seconds of King’s Chester.
Canford School vs Boulogne 92 Aviron, FRA
The Canford vs Boulogne heat of the PE brought some very interesting international competition, with Canford showing extreme grit and not once losing contact with the crew from France. Off the End of the Island, Boulogne had a lead of a canvas, with quite a high rate of 43, Boulogne further extended this lead to a third of a length by the barrier, with both crews settling onto the same rhythm at 36. Boulogne established a strong mid-race rhythm which helped them to extend their lead, but Canford seemed to have something extra in the tank. Embodying the definition of ‘throwing in the kitchen sink’ Canford reduced the Boulogne lead to just two feet, and then by the Progress Board had taken a three-quarter of a length out of Boulogne. This race ended with a very heartwarming finish, in which the bow pair of the Canford boat celebrated enthusiastically hugging each other and displaying how gratifying a win in a Henley Royal heat really feels.
St Ignatius’ College, AUS vs Wallingford R.C.
St Ignatius and Wallingford was quite a contested race the whole way down the course. St Ignatius started off with an impressive three-quarter length lead by the End of the Island. Both crews were still rating high, with St Ignatius striking 36, but after the Fawley marker Wallingford seemed to step on and were able to gain back half a length, reducing the lead of St Ignatius to one and a half lengths. However, St Ignatius continued to lower their rate from 34 at the mile to 32 at the progress board, and this allowed Wallingford to gain three quarters of a length back in their final sprint. This led to the final verdict of three quarters of a length to St Ignatius in a time of 6:35, and a race which originally appeared to have been won in the first 300m turning out to be quite a close heat. Although unfortunately for Wallingford, their determination did not lead to a win, they showed a lot of grit which will surely be beneficial in their future rowing.
Wednesday Previews
Westminster School vs St. Edward’s School
Westminster vs Teddies is a potentially overlooked race, with a probable assumption that Teddies will easily take the victory. Teddies struggled with their second race at Nat schools, moving from a fourth place and six seconds off from the nearest competitors, to fifth place by three seconds, suggesting repeated racing doesn’t go well for them. Despite Westminster’s sixth place B Final position at National Schools’ Regatta, I think this has the potential to be a tight race. Westminster secured a time of 6:39 in their heat over Emanuel, whereas Teddies led easily in a time of 6:53. Given the margins, these times have the potential to move much closer together in a side by side race. I still believe Teddies will take the win, but I think that Westminster could give them a run for their money.
St Ignatius’ School, AUS vs Hampton School
I predict that St Ignatius vs Hampton will be one of tomorrow’s tighter races. After Hampton having had a pretty outstanding year, winning a fourth place in the A Final of the Ch8+ at National Schools, less than three seconds behind last year’s PE winners, I would say that its quite likely that they could advance to a quarter or semi-final, but having been drawn against Ignatius, who won the Australian Rowing Championships in March in a time of 5:57, I think this may be less likely. I believe that the final result will be in favour of St Ignatius by one or two lengths, with Hampton putting up a tough fight the whole way.
Latymer Upper School vs Radley College
Both crews looked strong down the track today, posting convincing enough margins to earn their places in tomorrow’s showdown. In terms of raw power and finesse, I do think Radley will come away victorious here, but not without having to fend off inevitable surges from Latymer. Nonetheless, like their colour scheme, I have a feeling that Latymer may be singing the blues, with Radley emerging victorious.
