On the 25th of May, National Schools Regatta will take place at Olympic rowing lake, Eton Dorney. One of the categories for this race is the J16 1st 8s. In this article I will go over my predictions for the day.

Favourites must be Eton, after a win at School’s Head of the River Race, they look confident going into NSR. Last year’s winners, St. Paul’s, may not be as confident going into this year’s race after a 5th Place finish at SHORR. Westminster, however, look in contention for the win, after a second place finish at SHORR only 3 seconds behind Eton. To add to the competition for 1st is Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association, who finished only 0.1 of a second behind Westminster at SHORR, a very fine margin over a 7k race.

Schools such as Hampton and Shrewsbury, however, are not to be discounted after their results at SHORR, as anything could happen over training camp. Hampton went to Seville, as usual for their J16 squad, whilst Shrewsbury went to Laias (both of which are in Spain). I’m sure both of these camps will have improved the crews a lot and could see them fighting for medals at this year’s NSR.

Although the top 3 seem very close, it could be anyone’s win, over two months after SHORR, and it will be interesting to see results at upcoming Regattas - BASHER, Wallingford and Bedford, to see how the crews compare.