Metropolitan Regatta 2025 – Women’s Championship Quads Preview

Rowing is back at Dorney this weekend for one of the most exciting regattas on the calendar. The Metropolitan Regatta gives junior, student and club rowers the chance to race against each other side-by-side across several finals after an initial time trial. This regatta is also an important stepping stone in the build-up to both Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regatta later this season. With the same events held on both days, clubs can decide which crews to enter on which day.

Reading University Boat Club

Reading have absolutely dominated student sculling so far this season. Across BUCS Head and BUCS Regatta, their women’s side have won all the championship and three out of four intermediate openweight sculling titles this season. They have entered two quads on Saturday, and their top boat is likely to include three of the quad that won bronze at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. It is hard to see many crews getting close to them on Saturday.

Leander Club

Reading’s closest challengers are likely to be the crew from Leander, who are also only racing on Saturday. Leander is synonymous with success in the rowing world and will be looking to retain this title on Saturday. This crew includes Katie Mole, who has been one of the top scullers on the domestic scene in the last couple of years. She placed second in the championship single at the 2025 BUCS Regatta and was selected to represent GB at World Rowing Cup III last year as part of the ‘Project LA’ group. This crew should definitely be looking to challenge for the win on Saturday.

Bath University Boat Club/Hartpury University Boat Club/Nottingham Rowing Club

Another boat only racing on the Saturday, this entry is a composite crew which appears to be made up of rowers from the GB Performance Development Academies. The crew includes former netballer Poppy Baker, who was selected for last year’s U23 World Rowing Championships in the double and was also a crew member that won gold in the championship quads at Henley Women’s Regatta in 2024. She will likely be joined by Ellie Dash from Hartpury and the Bath duo who won bronze in the championship double at BUCS Regatta. This is likely to be a speedy boat, but given that they have often placed behind the Reading scullers at GB trials and have probably had less time to train together, taking the win will be a tall order.

Maidenhead Rowing Club

Maidenhead are only entered to race on Sunday, and in the absence of the aforementioned crews, they have a strong chance of going one better than their second-place finish last year. At Wallingford Regatta just a few weeks ago, they placed second, which is an excellent result for them. They also took three wins at Marlow Spring Regatta earlier this year. Based on these results, they should definitely aim for a win on Sunday.

Lea Rowing Club

Lea are one of just a handful of clubs to enter a crew in this event on both days. Based on the entries on both days, Sunday is likely to be the day where they rank highest. They placed fifth at Wallingford Regatta, around 20 seconds behind Maidenhead. Although this is quite a big gap, stranger things have happened in the rowing world, and if they go out hard, they might just be able to hang on to Maidenhead.

Other Entries

Other entries on Sunday include University of Nottingham Boat Club and Cardiff University Rowing Club. They placed fifth and eighth, respectively, in the intermediate quads at BUCS Regatta, so it will be interesting to see if they stay in that order or if either of them can get close to Maidenhead.

Predictions

Saturday’s racing would appear to be between Reading and Leander. I expect it to be close between these two crews but Reading should have just enough to take the win. On Sunday, Maidenhead appear to be the stand-out crew, but it should be a close battle between Lea, Nottingham and Cardiff. It will also be interesting to see how the club and student crews fare against the junior ones. Last year, Wycliffe College Boat Club took the overall win on Saturday, so I’m sure the senior crews will want to take that back. All in all, it promises some exciting racing.