With the championship season hotting up, the last of the major regattas at Dorney Lake will occur this Saturday. While for many crews, Marlow Regatta is preparation for a Henley Royal Regatta campaign, the smaller boats also present a compelling racing opportunity. The pairs reflect this as we have a range of athletes from juniors to masters who will face off in a time trial and two finals.
Leander Club
The combination of Ryder Apatu and Archie White has been entered from the pink palace. Last year, these two made up half of the Leander Fawley Challenge Cup crew, a boat that would make it to the Friday. This season, they have primarily worked with the gap-year group, with Apatu racing in the tenth-placed Leander C crew at the Head of the River Race. Their first major regatta in the pair, the Metropolitan Regatta, left them in fourth place on Saturday’s racing, designating them as the top crew that will race this weekend from that event. Following that performance, they will aim to grow and not be over-taken, nor cede ground to newcomers.
Upper Thames Rowing Club and Thames Rowing Club
This combination from two ends of the country’s most influential river contains established names on the club rowing scene. Charles Gosling won The Thames Challenge Cup with Thames Rowing Club in 2023, while Ed Davis was a finalist in the 2022 Britannia Challenge Cup. Racing together first as team England at the 2022 Home International Regatta, they have among the most pedigree in the field and will be looking to shine among the younger rowers.
Upper Thames Rowing Club
Another crew with a Thames/Upper Thames mixture is the other Upper Thames entry. However, this time, they will both be in the blue of the Henley-based club. The Thames representation in this group comes from Stephen Griffiths, a member of their 2018 Thames Challenge Cup-winning crew, while Dale Buckett has reached The Wyfold Challenge Cup semifinal with Upper Thames. This partnership has been together all season, placing seventh in the championship pairs event at Pairs Head in October. They will be hoping their familiarity serves them well on Saturday.
Imperial College
University entries are often unusual in this event, but Imperial College London has entered the combination of William Groom and Thomas Ward. Groom is a fresher at the prestigious London-based university, and he finished his junior career at King’s College School last year by stroking the English eight to victory at the Home International Regatta. Ward has a less accessible list of achievements but was mixed between boats at the Metropolitan Regatta, finishing 23rd in Saturday’s coxed four and 34th in Sunday’s eights. Now in the pair, they will look to build this partnership and be selected for higher-ranked crews next year.
Crabtree Boat Club
A club for Cambridge alumni, Crabtree Boat Club often enters interesting crews, and while the athletes in this boat may be a little older, their abilities are not to be underestimated. Austrian and 2014 Goldie member Florian Herbst is joined by double Henley Royal Regatta winner Anthony Lester in this novel pair. This crew, though older than their opposition, has experience racing on some of the sport’s biggest stages and could cause an upset on Saturday.
School Crews
Also in this event are three school crews from three prestigious rowing centres, all of which have entered Junior 16 athletes in this event. King’s College School entered two athletes from their Junior 16 first eight that won silver at the National Schools’ Regatta, including Christopher Groom, the younger brother of William, who races in the Imperial Crew. St Paul’s School has selected from lower in their ranks, with their pair having won gold in the Junior 16 second eights in Nottingham. Rounding out the junior entries, Radley College have the six-seven tandem from their Junior 16 first eight, a crew who won bronze. All three will have nothing to lose going into the weekend and will want to upset their older opponents.
Prediction
With many novel pairings coming from such disparate racing circles, it won’t be easy to pick a winner, but based on the form book established at the Metropolitan Regatta, I would pick the Leander Club crew.
