The Tideway head season is back with a bang. This year’s Scullers Head looks very competitive at the sharp end of the event, and with a gruelling 6.8km course to navigate (and, presumably, some characteristically tricky conditions), I think we’ll be in for an exciting day of racing.
I’ll preview the Open Senior, Lightweight and U23 categories this year. There’s no shortage of talent here, but as ever I’ll be looking at the ‘main players’ of the draw – the guys who I think will occupy the first few places on the results sheet.
Open Senior
There are 19 scullers entered here, with a concentration of talent at the top end and a few key entries. I’m primarily looking at scullers like University of London’s Joe Middleton, whose Tideway-based career saw a three-year stint in the St Paul’s first VIII, U19 World Rowing Championship titles, and some strong results with UL that culminated in that win in The Prince Albert Challenge Cup just a few months ago – a fantastic, storied moment for the programme. Middleton is no stranger to sculling and will know these waters very well; I think he’s the man to beat here. That being said, there are some experienced scullers in the mix, including Adrian Biddle from Nottingham Rowing Club – he was part of Nottingham’s Prince of Wales quad at Henley Royal Regatta that lost on day three to Edinburgh University. He’s a powerful sculler, but there’s finesse there too; he may well make an impact here.
I would be remiss not to mention Thames Rowing Club and James Beattie, who is undoubtedly one of the most experienced athletes in this field. A Henley winner from The Thames Challenge Cup ’21 and part of a fantastic Thames Visitors’ Challenge Cup four from last season that featured Olympic champion James Rudkin, Beattie should be a real contender here. Lewis Craig of Sudbury Rowing Club is another experienced club oarsman, who has ample time in the single scull. He performed decently at both the Marlow Regatta and the British Championships last summer.
It’s a tricky one to call, given how early in the season we are, but I’m going with Joe Middleton to take the win in this category.
Open Lightweight
For the lightweights, the big players are likely to be Reading University Boat Club’s Thomas Zammitt, who was second in the B-final at BUCS Regatta in the open championship lightweight single scull – no mean feat given the calibre of the event – and Nottinghamshire County’s James Edgar, who was fourth in the same final. There’s not a huge amount to go on when looking at the other boats in this field, but any Reading University entries should raise an eyebrow – it is, of course, the premier university sculling programme in the country. One should never discount Crabtree Boat Club’s Nathaniel O’Reilly; a former Tideway Scullers athlete. Dubliner O’Reilly has been around for years and is on top form in the single scull. On that note, I will pick O’Reilly for the top spot here.
Open U23
A healthy contingent of U23 athletes populate this field, many from Reading University Boat Club – understandable, given the programme’s focus on sculling (indeed, the Sculler’s Head offers a pretty perfect opportunity for some early-season selection for the Reading programme). The standout here is certainly Ryne Robson, who won a silver at Home International Regatta back in the single scull in 2024, and performed very well at the GBRT trials last season in both the single and double scull, before going on to win gold back at Home Internationals. He’ll be up against Harrison Green, another great Reading sculler who was in the gold-medalling England double scull, also at Home Internationals.
Besides the Reading crowd, Nottingham University’s Edward Floyd enters as a pretty strong contender, with a good background in the single that saw a run down the track at GB Trials last year. I don’t think he’ll quite be able to match the speed of the top Reading guys, and I think this event looks to be Ryne Robson’s to lose.
Overall
Taken together, these three events all offer some fascinating little battles between some very experienced scullers. Ryne Robson stands out across all three categories, and I fancy him to place highly amongst the top championship categories, too. I think Joe Middleton and James Beattie will take the next two spots.
Good luck to all crews.
Five Man
