Metropolitan Regatta 2025 – Open Junior Eights Preview

After the shortened yet eventful National Schools’ Regatta this past weekend, domestic racing will return to Dorney Lake. Looking to push on from National Schools’, crews will be beginning their build into Henley Royal Regatta, and Metropolitan Regatta is the perfect place to test their speed. Though we are still days out, a strong cross-tail breeze is predicted for Sunday, which may favour lighter and more technical crews. Unsurprisingly, the heavy hitters from National Schools’ Regatta, such as St Paul’s School Boat Club and Radley College Boat Club, have entered the Open Eights category, leaving the Junior Eights Trophy up for contention. That said, the presence of Hampton School Boat Club, along with other strong crews, will make this event a three-horse race.

Hampton School Boat Club

Hampton have gone from strength to strength over this past year and have quickly solidified themselves as one of the ‘big boys’ of schoolboy rowing. They have made leaps and bounds of progress in 2025, and their results are a testament to that improvement. A fourth place at the Schools’ Head of the River is their best performance at that event in years, and they were the third fastest junior crew by time at the more recent Wallingford Regatta. Most importantly, however, they squeezed St Edward’s School Boat Club out of fourth place at the National Schools’ Regatta Championship Eights category re-row. They are the only crew in this category to have made the A-final at the National Schools’ Regatta and are definitely favourites for the gold medal. GB pedigree also resides in this boat, most notably in Harry Oliver, who won gold in the men’s eight at the U19 World Rowing Championships. If they are able to hold their speed into the back end of the season, they will have more successes to add to the tally.

Westminster School Boat Club

A young crew, this first eight is composed almost entirely of Year 12 athletes. Although this will give them an edge next year, it means that they are slightly less experienced and perhaps slightly less composed than their competitors. They have performed solidly throughout the season regardless, led by Taylor, a member of the first eight last year. There is also some GB VS France match experience in this crew, with both Frye and Mazi having competed in the event. The strong headwind at Nottingham punished them for being a comparatively lighter crew, but this quality may benefit them in the contrasting conditions Sunday may bring.

Latymer Upper School Boat Club

Though they were initially neck and neck with Westminster earlier in the season, Latymer Upper School Boat Club have pushed on well, finishing second in the B-Final at the National Schools’ Regatta. A strong performance earlier in the spring season confirms this quality, as they finished a mere 3.5 seconds back from Radley at Wallingford Regatta. A strong year for them is in the making if they continue to perform at this level.

Predictions

Despite lackluster performances at the National School’s Regatta, there are some other crews with the potential to perform well. These include Dulwich College Boat Club and Claires Court School Boat Club. That being said, I find it likely that the podium composition will be as follows: Hampton for gold, Latymer for silver, and Westminster for bronze.