With regatta season still young, Wallingford Regatta will give us a glimpse of early season speed and who are the crews to watch this summer. The Women’s Challenge Pairs event welcomes a variety of entries, ranging from school crews and small clubs to powerhouses of British rowing, hopefully all crews can get to experience some close racing.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
With Wallingford Regatta taking place on the same day as BUCS Regatta, I would expect this crew to be composed of Brookes’ non-student athletes. Brookes are one of the premier clubs in the country for sweep rowing. At Henley Royal Regatta last year, they won both the Island and Remenham Challenge Cups. This season, their top boat placed fifth at Women’s Head with their top three crews all placing within the top 25. Brookes will certainly be going for the win this weekend.
Thames Rowing Club
While Brookes is viewed as the pinnacle of university rowing, Thames is viewed as the pinnacle of club rowing. Thames won the Wargrave Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last year and their top boat was runner up at Women’s Head. As well as the strength of their top boats, the depth at Thames is truly to be admired with four boats qualifying for the Wargrave and five placing within the top 25 at Women’s Head. Thames will likely be the main opposition for Brookes this weekend.
Headington School Oxford Boat Club
Headington is the one of three schools to have entered a crew in this event. Headington School are at the forefront of junior rowing and have been for many years. At Women’s Head, they placed second in the School/Junior category and ranked 29th overall. They also won the championship eights at Schools’ Head. With numerous athletes competing for GB each year, this crew may be composed of their GB triallists who would be aiming to be the fastest junior crew in this event as well as trying to take on some of the senior boats.
The King’s School, Worcester Boat Club
Another school crew entered comes from the King’s School, Worcester. Although they lack the reputation of Headington, placing 11th in the Girls Schools first eight event at School’s Head, one of their athletes competed at GB trials placing in the top ten sweep rowers. If she features in the crew this weekend, they may exceed expectations.
Westminster School Boat Club
Through head season, the women’s squad at Westminster School have prioritised the quad. They placed in the middle of the pack at the major events coming 16th at Oarsport Junior Sculling Head and 15th at Schools’ Head. Making the switch to sweep this weekend, they’ll need to have found a lot more speed to be competitive.
Warwick Boat Club
At Women’s Head, Warwick were the third fastest medium club. They have quickly made the change from the eight to small boats winning the women’s pair category at Abingdon Head. Earlier in the season, Warwick Boat Club came seventh in the club pairs event at Pairs Head. This should prepare them well although they will likely lack the speed of the high performance clubs of Thames and Oxford Brookes.
Maidstone Invicta Boat Club
Maidstone Invicta placed fourth in the Medium Club category at Women’s Head. With only six seconds separating them from Warwick over the 6.7km course, there should be some close racing between these two clubs and Maidstone will be looking to come out on top this time. At Quintin Head, Maidstone Invicta came second in the development eights so will likely be off the pace of the top crews but will be looking to come out ahead of Warwick after a close result at Women’s Head.
Predictions
This will likely be a two horse race between Oxford Brookes and Thames but with most of the Brookes athletes at BUCS this weekend I’d expect Thames to come out on top. Among the school crews Headington seem set to top the rankings. Warwick and Maidstone Invicta should have some close racing between them despite potentially being off the winning pace.
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