The May bank holiday weekend brings with it the first piece of summer racing down at Dorney Lake. With 18 club women’s eights entered and last year’s winners (Thames) absent from the start order, it becomes a competitive field.
Molesey Boat Club
The strength and depth of Molesey Boat Club‘s women’s squad has been ever-increasing over the past couple of seasons, under Sam Tuck’s coaching, as well as inspired by Holly Dunford’s Olympic successes. I suspect the crew entered here will resemble the eight that placed 43rd at Women’s Head of the River Race, a few places below some of their competitors this weekend, however they will want to be pushing for the win here, and it would not be surprising if they have found the speed to do so.
London Rowing Club
London Rowing Club‘s women’s squad is another that has been growing exponentially in depth in recent years. They have two boats entered in club eights this weekend, as well as two in the challenge category. Whilst there is a chance they may have athletes racing in both, it is likely the crews here are their third and fourth boats. If that is the case, they will want to push for the final, but they are unlikely to be in the mix for the win in this category.
Marlow Rowing Club
Marlow Rowing Club is another club with two crews entered in this category at the weekend, who placed 37th and 56th at Women’s Head of the River Race. These women will be no stranger to tight racing, winning their heat and placing fourth in the final at Wallingford last year, where the gap from second to sixth place only spanned a boat length. Having two crews that are relatively close in speed, they will be spurring each other on, and be hoping to put down a solid showing on Sunday to kick off regatta season.
Shannon Boat Club (Ireland)
It is rare to see crews make the trek over the sea this early in regatta season, so I am curious to see how the crew from Shannon Boat Club fares on Sunday. They will, worst case, gain some valuable side-by-side race experience, which will stand them in good stead for later in the season. However, the potentially more likely scenario is that they have a fast crew looking to chase a win. I would not be surprised to see them in the final.
Upper Thames Rowing Club
Placing second behind Thames in this category last year, Upper Thames Rowing Club will be glad that their Tideway challengers do not feature in their opposition on Sunday. Upper Thames have two eights entered in the club category; they placed 17th and 64th at Women’s Head of the River Race, however had the likes of Imogen Grant racing in their top crew there. Whilst Upper Thames eventually spent a lot of their regatta season last year in fours, they did qualify two eights into The Wargrave Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. They will be a force to be reckoned with here.
City of Cambridge Rowing Club
City of Cambridge Rowing Club look to be having a particularly strong head season this year, and will be training hard to ensure this speed continues into the summer. They placed 35th at Women’s Head of the River Race, one of the highest-ranked crews racing in this category at the weekend, and narrowly missed out on winning the Provincial pennant by 0.3 seconds. The motivation from losing out by such a small amount at the end of their head season will certainly have fired up these women not to be on the wrong side of such a margin again! As such, I suspect they will compete in the final this weekend and potentially push to win.
Predictions
With last year’s winners not returning to defend the title, the path looks clear for Upper Thames Rowing Club to take the win in this event this weekend. The entries from Molesey Boat Club and City of Cambridge Rowing Club are also likely to contend for the other podium positions.
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