A common victim of winter weather and flooding, Wallingford Head finally returns after a hiatus of many years of cancellations. As one of the last races of 2025 for many, crews will be looking to end the year on a high. The fours events provide useful measures of early speed with limited expectation, especially with several clubs bedding in new athletes and experimenting with fresh lineups.
Coxless Fours
With Wallingford as the home waters for Oxford University Boat Club, it is not surprising to see such a large pool of entries from them in Band One. These crews are likely to be similar to those that raced at Fours Head a couple of weeks ago, having already laid down some strong results on the Tideway. As the Boat Race looms closer and Trial VIIIs approach in a few weeks, pressure will be felt by these athletes to fight for the opportunity to be considered among the top sixteen in the squad. This race gives just another chance for this inter-club rivalry.
Assuming the GEFFEN crew consists of Harry Geffen, Alex Sullivan, Jamie Arnold, and Alex Underwood, they will be the crew to beat. Harry Geffen, a former Bulldog, is one of GB’s Project LA athletes, fresh off a Gold medal from the U23 World Championships and a senior debut in the pair. Similarly, Jamie Arnold, another USA university alumnus, has formerly represented Australia on the podium at U23 level, with a respectable third and fourth place in 2022 & 2023 while attending the University of California. Alex Sullivan rounds out the trio, his pathway similarly shaped by American collegiate rowing, having represented Harvard 2V before switching from Crimson to the Dark Blue of Oxford University. Alex Underwood is the only athlete in this combination to have raced the full Boat Race previously on the Tideway, sitting in the three-seat of the Isis crew in 2024. He built on this experience by racing for Leander last year, making the semifinals of the The Thames Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. This crew has already claimed a second-place finish in the Championship Four category at Fours Head, only losing out to the current World Champions from the GB Senior Squad.
Their main contenders will likely be a blend of athletes from the rest of the top Oxford eight from the morning division, who already have demonstrated early squad strength at the Upper Thames Autumn Head. This saw them finish only marginally behind a top London Rowing Club crew, whilst Oxford spread their crews to be fairly matched.
Among the Band Two contenders, it will be a 1v1 between Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club (raced 4s head in a club coxless four, came 48th) and Wallingford Rowing Club, with each having their own set of competitive advantages. The crew from Maidstone is likely to be the same combination that raced at Fours Head recently in the club coxless four, whereas Wallingford do not seem to have been to any senior small boat races yet this season. This could give them the edge with stronger harmony as a crew. However, Wallingford has the home advantage, and with this being a very difficult course to navigate, this could be the ultimate dealbreaker.
Coxed Fours
Compared to the near-monopoly seen in the coxless four category, the coxed fours line up athletes from a much broader range of clubs. In Band One, the field is comprised of three clubs: Lea Rowing Club, Marlow Rowing Club and more crews from Oxford University Boat Club. Each of these clubs brings a pedigree rooted in a long tradition of rowing excellence.
Despite the ambiguous, humorous crew names listed, the two Lea crews are not ones to joke about, with new Head Coach Tom Wilkinson leading the charge. Having qualified at Henley Royal Regatta this last summer, a trend we are seeing from Lea yearly in either the Britannia or Wyfold, accompanied by a fourth-place finish in the Club Coxed Four at Fours Head, there is a clear pattern of strong performance in these smaller boats from Lea.
However, these Oxford University crews will be well accustomed to Wallingford waters, and with three Band One crews entered among the six, it would be smart to assume these crews will be fighting for that top spot. While the exact makeup of each crew is not fully clear, their entries suggest a mix of experience and developing talent across the squad. At Fours Head, Oxford had boats finishing third, sixth, and eighth in their respective academic category, though the combinations have likely changed slightly since then. Despite this, Head Coach Mark Fangen-Hall always brings technically capable crews that are powerful, competitive and well-drilled.
