Poplar Regatta 2025 – Men’s Open Eights Preview

Poplar Regatta is an interesting event as it features a range of clubs. Whilst it always has a mixture of quality, you never know what to expect until the draw comes out. It’s no different this year, with a strong selection of clubs electing to participate in an event that isn’t always a big draw in the racing calendar, given its proximity to other significant events. That said, with BUCS and Wallingford taking place just over a week ago, it’s a good opportunity to capitalise on that race sharpness.

Oxford Brookes University Boat Club

Fresh from another golden campaign at BUCS Regatta, Oxford Brookes University is a standout entry in this event. Having won the championship men’s eights and the intermediate men’s eights at the event, they’re undoubtedly the best student programme in the country. They have a stunning amount of depth, placing all eight of their entries inside the top 52 places at the Head of the River Race. It’s challenging to know what we’ll get here with Brookes; they’re a club embroiled in scandal for much of the year, and there’s still a lot of uncertainty around their future. Despite that, their athletes still perform at an elite level that is incomparable to the rest of this field.

Lea Rowing Club

Perhaps the best of the rest, Lea Rowing Club have entered two crews into this event. Placing 82nd and 153rd at the Head of the River Race, they’ll be looking to beat some of their London rivals and compete to the best of their ability against a formidable Brookes crew. Getting a strong fifth place in their heat at Wallingford Regatta, they’ll be looking to continue improving throughout the summer to secure qualification for Henley Royal Regatta. This is a good opportunity for Lea to test themselves against a varied field.

Curlew Rowing Club

Local to the event are East London-based Curlew RC. Having come 126th at the Head of the River, the club seems to be heading in the right direction. This will be an interesting opportunity for them to see how they compete against traditionally more prolific clubs. It’s unlikely that they’ll be able to overcome some of the margins seen on the championship course, but some fights seem a lot more realistic within this field.

Auriol Kensington Rowing Club

Finishing closely ahead of Curlew at the Head of the River Race was Auriol Kensington who came 123rd. By their standards, this will have been below expectations as they have historically qualified eights into The Thames Challenge Cup. If they’re to do that this year, they’ll have to close the gap to clubs like Lea, who appear to be a step ahead of them at this early point of the regatta season.

University College London BC

Coming 142nd at the Head of the River, University College London have made sizeable improvements since then, coming third in the E-final at BUCS Regatta clocking a time of 6:18.2. It should be a good fight between them, Curlew, and Auriol Kensington in this race as they’re all fighting to keep making these steps in the right direction.

Prediction

Oxford Brookes are generally in a league of their own. Irrespective of what crew they’ve entered, nobody else in this field should be able to compete with them. The real question will be whether any other clubs can contend with Lea for second position. Previous form seems to suggest that they’ll have too much for the others, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some other clubs had had a strong transition into the regatta season. UCL are my pick for third place, ahead of Auriol Kensingston and Curlew.