York Small Boats Head is a great opportunity for rowers in the North East to showcase their ability over a shorter head race course early on in the season. Crews will race the 3000m upstream, hoping to prove themselves going forward into the head racing calendar.
Men’s Fours
Trevelyan College Boat Club are sending three coxed fours down the course, which could make for some good racing against the clubs whose home water is the River Ouse, and therefore will be familiar with the course. The University of York Boat Club are sending two coxed fours to this event, in addition to York City Rowing Club sending three of their own. After Fours Head last weekend, the University of York crews won’t be sending out their top boats. The advantage of home water could come through for the York crews, however, Trevelyan have been known to place highly in this event before.
The coxless fours appear to be dominated by Royal Chester Rowing Club, with the start order showing four crews in this event. Two of these four crews are in band one, joined by York City, who may have an advantage in this event as they have previous knowledge of the corners and best line on the Ouse.
I imagine that within the coxed fours, the University of York will just about manage to scrape a win, with York City taking the win in the coxless event.
Women’s Fours
The women’s coxed fours has five entries in band one, split over two divisions. Royal Chester Rowing Club and the University of York Boat Club are in the first division together. The University of York women’s squad has made the same decision to leave out those who raced Fours Head, meaning the crew is not the strongest that the University has to offer, but will still be a force to be reckoned with. In the second division, Royal Chester will have another crew competing, alongside Sheffield University Boat Club and Trevelyan College Boat Club. It could be quite a battle for the win, with Sheffield wishing to prove themselves against other Universities, such as York. Ultimately, I believe Royal Chester will be the strongest in this category and may just take the win in this event.
The women’s coxless fours are not banded, with four Royal Chester crews and one York City Rowing Club crew competing for the win. The York City crew had an amazing season last year, qualifying in the coxless four at the Henley Women’s Regatta. This could put pressure on the Royal Chester crews, as well as the advantage of home water.
Overall, the women’s fours seems to be a competitive event. I predict the wins in these events will go to Royal Chester in the coxed fours and York City within the coxless fours. However, Royal Chester will be pushing to win both of these events and gain a clean sweep in the fours.
Men’s Singles
The men’s singles seems to be shaping up to be an exciting event, with Edwin Van Lopik looking to win this race. He has just returned from competing for Great Britain at the World Beach Sprint Championships in a double. He will be using his extensive sculling experience to get him the win in this category; however, other entrants are also looking to take the title for Band one singles. The scullers from Royal Chester Rowing Club and Durham Amateur Rowing Club will also be hoping for a win, wishing to push Van Lopik on his home water.
Women’s Singles
In the Women’s singles category, Isabelle Maxwell is set to race. The Vesta Rowing Club sculler has proved herself in a single many times, having raced for Scotland at the Home International Regatta, among other feats in a single. She is almost certain to win this event, so the other entrants in this event may just have to fight for a second-place finish.
The singles could turn out to be interesting, with the men’s race seeming to have a much tighter outcome than the women’s. Overall, I see Van Lopik and Maxwell taking the titles in their respective events.
Overview
Racing seems to be fairly tight at York Small Boats Head, with many events being close between clubs. I do predict that the University of York may have some advantage in the coxed fours. Similarly, York City have the advantage of their steerspeople knowing the river well in the coxless fours. The singles look to be interesting as well, but I can see the women’s race being a much less exciting fight compared to the men’s singles.
