Nottingham City Regatta 2025 – Open Championship Eights Preview

In the rowing world, with its heavy concentration of races in London and the South-East, it is easy to overlook the fact that the regional rowing centres provide just as, if not more, of a mouth-watering prospect. Nestled in the East Midlands, Nottingham has been a rowing centre of excellence stretching back way into the last century. Every university rower and now school age rower has or will row at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, home of the legendary Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association, and the University of Nottingham Boat Club, winners overall of eight out of ten of the first BUCS Regattas, a number only surpassed by Durham. With quite a narrow field this year, the final of this event is a straight shootout between a titan of Northeast England rowing, a schoolboy club with a proud history finding their form after a period in the wilderness, and a one of the strongest junior rowing programs in the United States.

Hampton School Boat Club

Hampton School Boat Club have been quietly moving back towards their inclusion in the schoolboy rowing canon of excellence for some time now. The 1980’s, 90’s and early 2010’s were periods of dominance for Hampton, with the advent of the treble winning 1985, 1986, and 1988 crews winning four out of five Princess Elizabeth Cup’s from 1985-1989 (with the singular loss being a 1987 loss in the final to Belmont Hill), five consecutive SHORR titles in the same period, three Queen Mother Cup’s at NSR, the list is endless. Having a not made a HRR PE final since 1995, and last having finished in the top three at School Head in 2013, Hampton struggled in the later part of the last decade as they were arguably eclipsed by the emergence of Shiplake, the coronation of the St Pauls rowing dynasty and outshone by the perennial challengers of Radley and Eton. In the last few years however, Hampton have made real strides, making the A final at NSR 2024 last season and finishing fourth at SHORR this season. Head racing stats can only take us so far, but its clear for all to see that Hampton are on a upwards trajectory, and even despite the fact that the face stiff competition from both international and national foes, I would expect them to be in the hunt for the win.

Tyne Amateur Rowing Club

A club that has always gone toe-to-toe with the best and managed to come out on top, Tyne Amateur Rowing Club is not just a regional heavyweight; it is a national one as well. A Semifinal loss to Marlow in The Wyfold Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last year, the second year in a row that Tyne had made the Semifinal, with eighteen athletes sent to the regatta overall spread across three events, depth and quality are not a problem for Tyne, they just need to get over the line. Like many clubs, Tyne appears to stick their most powerful athletes in four, leaving the remaining athletes spread across, in Tyne’s case, one or two eights. With the first eight finishing 31st at Head of the River Race 2025, a strong positioning to build on in the summer racing season. Given that Tyne has an elite club program and they are up against two junior crews in Hampton and Marin, I expect them to walk away with the win here.

Marin Rowing Association, USA

It’s somewhat unusual to have an American junior crew over in the UK this early in the year, with the bulk coming in June. But the fact that Marin Rowing Association have chosen to come over should set the banks a chatter with speculation on the strength of their crew. Since The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup was opened to club crews last year, the speculation was that it would provide a vehicle for US junior club crews (many of whom can select their members for entire state areas as opposed to schools that can only choose from their immediate confines). Both the boys and the girls crews have been the great rowing El Dorado in recent years, with the boys crew losing to Shiplake by a length in the Semifinals of The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup two years ago, having been felled by them again the year before. Fellow American RowAmericaRye beat the girls in the Semifinal of The Prince Philip Challenge Cup. A second place finish in Youth Eights at HOCR 2025 proved a good start, as did one of their most recent results, coming second in eights at the San Diego Crew Classic, bested by the Oakland Strokes by less than a second and winning the US Rowing Southwest Youth Championships in the same breath Marin have US vests coming out of their ears, including three of eight members of the US U19 Mens eight, but one wonders if they will able to match Tyne in particular for speed. St Paul’s has taught us that age is no barrier to scarily fast times, so one hopes that Marin will prove this right again.

Predictions

Marin Rowing Association or Tyne Amateur Rowing Club look like the most likely to win based on season speed and experience. Of those two, I would be amiss if I didn’t consider Tyne as favourites, although I think they will be put a lot of strain by Marin.