With Henley Women’s Regatta right around the corner, Reading Amateur Regatta offers a final and formidable test for many of the UK’s top women’s crews. This event is prestigious in the regatta calendar and is often seen as a key warm-up opportunity for crews with Henley Women’s and Royal Regatta ambitions. The regatta offers the choice of a 1500m course on Saturday and 1000m on Sunday, but both come with side-by-side racing replicating what is to come in the following weeks. As a result, the regatta attracts a diverse and competitive field from internationals to domestic university college crews, and the majority of these women’s sweep crews across eights and fours will be looking to lay down a final marker.
Women’s Eights
Saturday sees a hefty four bands of racing in the women’s eights, with the top crews contesting the Austin Balsom Challenge Cup in Band one. Among these entries are some expected names in the context of Henley Women’s Regatta preparations; the universities of Birmingham, Saint Andrews, Bath, Oxford and Southampton are all crews who are entered here whilst also being potential contenders in next week’s Academic Eights event for the Colgan Foundation Cup. They will be joined by a blend of strong club crews such as London Rowing Club and Lea Rowing Club, as well as notable junior entries from Shiplake College Boat Club and Lady Eleanor Holles Boat Club, with these four crews likely preparing in a similar manner for the Copas Cup and The Peabody Cup, respectively. London RC recently came seventh place in the A-Final for the women’s championship eights at The Metropolitan Regatta, so will be looking to pick off their opposition more gradually across each round here. While the more senior rowing clubs arguably have the upper hand regarding experience, Shiplake made a splash at National Schools’ Regatta by winning the championship girls’ eight final by multiple lengths, so expect their streak to continue here regardless of age differences. A wildcard to watch out for is WPI Crew, who appear in both Bands one and two, hinting at depth in their programme, coupled with high ambitions.
Further, in women’s novice eights, a more local clash will play out between Oxford University Boat Club and Reading Rowing Club.
Sunday’s 1000m course will see continued appearances from WPI crew plus a range of additional club and academic entries including Wallingford Rowing Club, Putney High School Boat Club, and St Hildas College (Oxford) Boat Club.
Women’s Fours
In the women’s coxless fours on Saturday, Band one for the Sandeman Challenge Cup features strong entries from London Rowing Club, Lea Rowing Club and two potentially well-drilled crews from Mortlake Anglian & Alpha Boat Club. Lea made the A-final of the women’s pairs and the B-final of women’s coxless fours at The Metropolitan Regatta, so will be building off this. Mortlake A&A women won the coxless four at Hammersmith Regatta earlier this year, so this could also bode well if training has been going to plan.
Band two welcomes more unconventional challengers, such as Auriol Kensington Rowing Club, the London Otters Rowing Club, Globe Rowing Club, and BTC Southampton. Any of these crews could well appear next week in The Avril Vellacott Cup at championship level or The Cathy Cruickshank Trophy for aspirational academic coxless fours.
Sunday’s coxless four contest is limited to Wallingford Rowing Club and Shiplake College Boat Club. However, the narrow field does not reflect the expected competition, with both clubs known for fielding well-coached, technically proficient crews. Suppose similar girls are entered here compared to their National Schools’ Regatta crews. In that case, Wallingford may have difficulty clawing back the 28 seconds between themselves and Shiplake that occurred over 2000m in their respective eights. Nonetheless, if Shiplake are looking to dominate the women’s eights on the Saturday, will Wallingford’s fresher legs make all the difference?
The women’s coxed fours, racing only on Saturday, feature three bands. Band one for the J.P. Turrill Challenge Cup includes overlapping names from the eights categories, such as Lea Rowing Club, Saint Andrews and Bath University Boat Club, alongside the ever competitive but more junior Putney High School. Bands two and three introduce new faces to this preview, including Canford School Boat Club and Wadham College Boat Club, as well as three entries from Oxford University Boat Club, suggesting a particular breadth of talent across their women’s squad that they are willing to showcase.
Predictions
Reading Amateur Regatta promises to be a dynamic and revealing weekend of racing. With such a breadth of entries across the women’s sweep events, we can expect a few surprises as crews fight to gain momentum heading into the highlight of the women’s rowing calendar, Henley Women’s Regatta. However, if I were to make some predictions; London Rowing Club’s established results in women’s eights make them the favourite on this occasion, Lea Rowing Club for the coxless fours on the Saturday and the coxed on the Sunday due to the possibility of them entering their top four women into one crew, and Shiplake College Boat Club for the coxless fours on the Sunday.
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