The championship course will host a brand new event on its waters in 2025. The Junior Fours Head promises to show off the best of junior rowing with crews from across the country and even further afield. The competition is wide open, as no crew has a title to defend due to previous cancellations of the Fours Head, so no one has anything to lose. With the prize of three RP3 dynamic rowing machines on the line, every crew will be eager to get from Mortlake to Putney as quickly as they can.
Shiplake College Boat Club
The impressive stats supporting its members make this crew from Shiplake an overwhelming favourite for this event. Luca Hunt-Davis has proved himself to be one of the junior rowers to watch over the last year, winning Henley Royal Regatta in July before triumphing in the men’s eight at the U19 World Rowing Championships in Trakai. This sport runs in his blood too; his father was an Olympic gold medallist in Sydney, illustrating the reason for his natural talent on the water. Other international representation includes bowman Rupert Evans, who won the men’s coxless four at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, at which GB achieved a staggering nine golds. Steering the crew down the Thames will be Henley Royal Regatta winner Ben Loggie, who will bring that winning experience to a river where the cox matters greatly and finding the right stream is key. Coach Hugh Mackworth-Praed should feel confident in his crew, but can they back up the facts with a win on Friday?
Hampton School Boat Club
Over the last year, Hampton has established itself as a leader in schoolboy rowing by building a boat club with unmatched depth and capacity. Their crew attending the Junior Fours Head displays some of the club’s up-and-coming talents, with three of the crew reaching the A-Final at the National Schools’ Regatta in the Junior 16 eight, particularly Archer Jones and Patrick Moroney. Respectively, they achieved 22nd and 25th at the U19 GB Trials last weekend, despite being only J17, which highlights their current form within the crew. In the driver’s seat is Arun Datta, who coxed the Hampton second eight to a second-place finish at the National Schools’ Regatta, which, again, will be very important on such a cox-dependent course.
Dulwich College Boat Club
Dulwich are a crew to watch out for and a bit of a hot pick considering the results behind some of the other squads. I see them as a potential favourite due to recent results at Kingston Small Boats Head last weekend. Out of 410 crews, Dulwich finished ninth overall, winning their own Junior 18 coxed four category and beating strong clubs such as King’s College School, Hampton School, and even Oxford University. Both Dominic Stage and Oriel Rolland-Cassina were in their school’s top eight last year, but they were unable to achieve strong results, which may imply their Kingston victory was a one-off. However, they will be hoping to prevent this on the Tideway.
St Edward’s School Boat Club
Henley Royal Regatta 2025 was an impressive display from the boys at Teddies, with both their first and second eights reaching the Friday. Four of the boys were in the Temple Challenge Cup eight, which became the first schoolboy crew to advance that far in the competition in this event. Lazlo Earle is the only member of the boat who was in the first eight last year and hopes to draw on some of that experience to help his school return to its winning ways in 2023.
Bedford School Boat Club
My last pick is Bedford School, due to some of their notable performances from last year. Stanley Breed, Oliver Payne and Oscar Qualtrough were all in the squad that reached the B-final at the Marlow Regatta, coming 13th out of 109 clubs. This was a totally unforeseen display, beating men who were very much their senior, including multiple Thames Rowing Club crews. Despite not capitalising on this at Henley Royal Regatta, the boys in blue will be hoping to relive some of that success.
Prediction
It would be very difficult to discredit the Shiplake crew, given everything their athletes have accomplished; however, there could be underdog victories from Bedford School or even Dulwich College. Ultimately, I believe Shiplake will emerge as the winner.
