Teddington Head offers another opportunity for crews to gain valuable head racing experience and showcase their training progress so far this season. Starting at Hampton Court Palace, this course is 5200m long, with a mixture of boat classes competing in both divisions. This is an essential race for these female athletes to learn from before the winter break.
Women’s Eights
Broken up into two bands, the women’s eights category boasts talent from all across the country, and many local clubs have entered multiple crews. One such example is Molesey Boat Club, whose first eight recently had a successful trip across the pond, finishing second in the women’s championships eights at the Head of the Charles Regatta. Imperial College Boat Club have also entered a women’s eight, having had a similarly successful international trip to Amsterdam to race at Amstelbeker; I am therefore eager to see how they compete against the three Molesey crews starting ahead of them. Additionally, this category involves some junior clubs who are looking to see where they stand against intermediate crews, as well as their junior counterparts. Surbiton High School Boat Club and Shiplake College Boat Club will face off against each other; as two clubs who race head to head multiple times throughout the season, this will no doubt be an exciting watch for spectators from the banks. With a National Schools’ Regatta win and a Henley Royal final under their belt from last year, I’m sure that Shiplake will be looking to stay ahead of the crews behind them and showcase their sweeping talent once again.
Women’s Quads
This category also has a mixture of junior and senior crews entered, so will be a competitive race. The two junior crews entered again include Surbiton High School, who hold a critical home advantage over the 5200m course as they take to the waters that they train on everyday. Additionally, Tideway Scullers will be certain to carry over their success from Junior Fours Head where they finished in an impressive fourth place in the championship coxless quad in a composite with University of London. Some more crews joining them in their visit from the Tideway include University College London and Vesta Rowing Club who will both be looking to show their speed and finish at the top having also competed at Fours Head last weekend. The dynamics of the recent racing experience highlights that this category will be an exciting watch to see which crew comes out on top.
Women’s Fours
With a limited number of crews entered in the coxed and coxless fours, the most prominent club entered is Vesta Rowing Club, making up the majority of the crews entered. However, this highlights the depth and experience of the club nonetheless. Coming off of a third place finish at Four’s Head last weekend in the women’s club coxed four, this will carry motivation onto the Kingston stretch of the river as they make their way through a similarly lengthy course. Additionally, local competitors Kingston Rowing Club arguably hold the home advantage as they should have identified the most competitive course to take on their daily stretch of the river; this experience and home advantage could play in their favour as they battle to finish ahead of the other crews.
Women’s Pairs
This category is more of an inter-squad race for Vesta Rowing Club, with five of their crews entered and them being the only club entered in this category. We can still expect to see some close racing margins as these pairs battle to finish out front against their teammates. Due to many of these athletes racing in both the morning and afternoon divisions, this will be a test of recovery and endurance (although also good training) as they brave the gruelling 5200m course twice.
Women’s Singles
The women’s singles are set to provide some tight and competitive racing. Starting with Vesta’s Rachel Grainger who is leading the pack, having won Kingston Small Boats Head earlier this month on this same course. This will no doubt provide Grainger with confidence as she takes to the course again and strives to stay ahead in this category. Additionally with two Ardingly Rowing Club crews entered, we can expect to see some competition between these two crews as they make an attempt to disrupt the starting order and instead finish on top. With contrasting strengths across the board, we can anticipate a strongly fought battle from start to finish.
Conclusion
Overall, all of these women’s categories highlight the depth and competitiveness of women’s rowing in the UK. With a handful of junior crews entered into women’s events, these crews will look to Teddington Head as a chance to compete against the best. Overall, spectators can expect close results across the board as crews strive to demonstrate their speed at this stage of the head racing season.
