Wallingford Regatta marks the first major UK regatta for the 2025 season, setting the stage for crews to display the speed they have found over the winter season. Similar numbers of crews to last year’s event are entered this time into the open school quads, where 18 boats battle to lift the J.H.W. Skeat Tankard. Eight months ago, the season began, but now is the time for crews to start showing their strength in the lead up to some of the largest regattas in the world.
Windsor Boys’ School Boat Club
An article on junior sculling cannot be complete without a mention of the powerhouse of junior boys’ sculling. Mark Wilkinson leads the phenomenal athletes from Windsor to undisputed glory year upon year, and this year, they have once again shown utter dominance amongst some top-class crews. Unfortunately, as well as Wallingford Regatta, Munich International Junior Regatta occurs this weekend, taking away at least two of Mark’s top scullers to represent GB. Could this affect the speed of Windsor’s top quad?
The Windsor Boys’ School have already taken first place in the junior quads event at Hammersmith Head, Schools Head of the River, and the Junior Sculling Head, where they also took home gold in Junior 15 and Junior 16 quad sculls. They also won at the Head of the Heineken in Amsterdam and the Head of the Charles in Boston, USA. These results only scratch the surface of Windsor’s dominance, which is why I can already envision them lifting the Tankard on Sunday evening.
Shiplake College Boat Club
Typically known as a school that competes in the junior eights event, Shiplake College has now decided to challenge some of the world’s fastest junior sculling boats too. After an extremely successful Henley Royal Regatta campaign in both The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup and The Fawley Challenge Cup, Shiplake is on the rise once again to become the top rowing schol in the country.
January of this year was a successful month for Shiplake. Having taken the headship home in both junior boys and junior girls eights, the boys’ quad fell just short at Hammersmith, taking in a respectable third-place finish. Shiplake’s only appearance of a sculling boat this season appeared at the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head, where they again took home third place, some 30 seconds behind the winners, who were, of course, Windsor Boys. Shiplake has their top boat entered into the junior eights, so I am unsure who this quad will be built up from, but if their previous results are anything to go off, I’d expect a strong result from this crew.
Marlow Rowing Club
Marlow Rowing Club were runners-up in The Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta 2024 but haven’t had the same success in 2025, picking up fifth place at the Schools’ Head of the River out of 32 crews. Although this result isn’t what they hoped for, they were not far away from Leander and Molesey, who picked up second and third place, respectively. Max Roughton, who sits in the Marlow quad, finished in the B-final at the U19 April Trials regatta, which is a fantastic result and will leave him in contention for a GB vest later this season. Will Max be able to bring his trials experience to the forefront of this boat and lead them to a medal position?
Hinksey Sculling School
Winners of last year’s race, Hinksey, will again be in the running to claim a medal on Sunday. Finalists in 2023 and semifinalists in 2024 at Henley Royal Regatta and bronze medallists at the National Schools’ Regatta 2024, Hinksey are competitive in whatever event they enter, and this will almost certainly be the case at Wallingford. Lewie Harris, Hinksey’s top sculler, recently finished up the April Trials Regatta in third place but does not appear to be attending the Munich International Regatta. Can they steal a march on their competition in the first duel of the season?
Great Marlow School
Great Marlow have been extremely impressive in this high-standard event for numerous years; however, they still struggle to get the attention they deserve. The often-overlooked school, directed by Piers Barnett since 2007, has a robust coaching team and helped to produce an incredible second-place finish at the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head, defeating Shiplake in their strive for silver. GMS didn’t qualify for the final at Wallingford last year, but I believe they will take that as fuel for Sunday and attempt to defeat Windsor.
Notable Mentions
Of course, not every crew that enters can have a full preview; however, there are some crews that are not mentioned as candidates for the A-final on Sunday. Maidenhead are in the first heat with Great Marlow School and Molesey, where only two go through to the final. It wouldn’t shock me to see a battle for the top two between Molesey and Maidenhead, as both crews will be fairly evenly matched.
Claire’s Court have consistently produced a good quad since they won The Fawley Challenge Cup in 2016, but this year they haven’t shown as much potential as the three other powerhouses in their heat on Saturday.
Heat three is far more open, and Bewl Bridge will likely take a berth in the A-final after their seventh-place finish at the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head. Kingston, Windsor ‘B’ or Norwich could be the last crew to make it to the final, but it is all to play for in the final heat of the event.
Prediction
I believe the final will be an interesting battle given the various contextual elements at play, including. I cannot see past the Windsor ‘A’ crew for the win, but beyond that, I think the strength lies with Great Marlow School to dominate second place, with Shiplake and Hinksey battling for the remaining medal. Packing out the final seats in the A-final, I think Bewl Bridge and Windsor ‘B’ will be the remaining two crews to race on Sunday.
1st – Windsor
2nd – Great Marlow School
3rd – Shiplake
4th – Hinksey
5th – Bewl Bridge
6th – Windsor ‘B’
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