Is this the best Henley Royal Regatta on record? In Chairman Richard Phelps’ first year as head honcho of rowing’s most venerable Regatta, he is blessed with a starting grid of crews that would not look out of place in the A-final of the Olympic Games. At the Premier level – where crews travel with world pedigree at their back to collect a coveted red box – we have gold dust sprinkled right across the Draw, whilst the Intermediate, Club, Student and Junior events promise refreshed rivalries, insurgent contenders and more than a hint of drama.
The Draw is always the subject of much consternation and speculation. A favourable election can result in a crew travelling deeper into the Regatta than originally forecast and has been known to contribute to surprising winning campaigns on more than one occasion. Alongside the random luck of Phelps plucking names from the bowels of The Grand Challenge Cup, the Stewards’ selection criteria continues to delight and frustrate in equal measure but the broad purpose remains fair and true – to ensure the top-ranked crews do not meet too early in battle.
Selection vs Speculation
It is impossible to get them all right. With the advent of a digital fact database – that in no small way powers the Henley Royal Regatta commentary team to be amongst the best on offer across the world of rowing – there is now an abundance of information at the committee’s fingertips. In most of the Trophies, the crews arriving into Henley with the fastest speed are designed to stay away from each other until, at the very least, the Friday of the Regatta. The Club, Student and Junior events are broadly as such, although there are some question marks, including St Paul’s School and Shiplake College – nominally the country’s two fastest junior eights – appearing on the same side of the Draw, whilst Rutgers University ‘A‘ – who were winners of the Petite final at the NCAAs – will be a little surprised not to have received a selection in The Island Challenge Cup, especially in light of the fact that Princeton’s lightweights did.
My eyes are drawn to the potential Saturday showdown between Thames Rowing Club ‘A’ and Molesey Boat Club ‘A’ in The Wargrave Challenge Cup, alongside Wycliffe College meeting the national champions from the Tideway Scullers School in the semifinal of The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup. London Rowing Club ‘A’ appear to have the marginally easier side of the Draw in The Thames Challenge Cup, whereas holders Thames will likely have to face at least two of De Hoop, Sydney and their own ‘B’ crew.
The path also feels fairly clear for Oxford University ‘A’ in The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, as their side of the draw almost exclusively features crews that they have already beaten, whilst The Bridge Challenge Plate will possibly bring us a repeat of last Sunday’s final in the Ron Needs Challenge Cup at Henley Women’s Regatta.
Premier Personified
Much has been made, not least by this platform, about the quality of Henley Royal Regatta’s showcase Trophies. In the year they switched the moniker to ‘Premier’ from ‘Open’, it feels more appropriate than ever, given the remarkable depth on display. The Diamond Challenge Sculls and Princess Royal Challenge Cup are both brimming with talent, and credit is once again due to the Regatta’s ability to attract athletes from right across the globe. Oliver Zeidler, Simon Van Dorp, Melvin Twellaar, Stefanos Ntouskos, Ryata Arakawa, Finn Hamill, Tom Barras and Logan Ullrich are the selected scullers in the Premier offering for open single sculls, whilst the women’s field features Olympic quad champion, Lauren Henry, up against the calibre of Olympic bronze medallist, Viktoria Senkute, and European Rowing Championships bronze medallist, Frida Sanggaard Nielsen.
Curiously, the Stewards opted not to select any of the boats in The Grand or Remenham Challenge Cups, leaving the Gods (assuming you do not believe those two parties are one and the same at Henley Royal Regatta) to determine that the Netherlands would be given the theoretically kinder of both draws (a bye in the women’s eight and a match-up against Cambridge University in the men’s equivalent.) Write the Light Blues off at your peril, though – word on the street is that they’re very confident that their boat speed is competitive.
Temple Tempo
A Trophy that rarely disappoints, The Temple Challenge Cup should bring us compelling contests from as early as Day Two. Home favourites from Oxford Brookes, Durham and Cambridge, the latter two of whom are slated to meet on the Thursday, are all on the same side of the Draw, whilst Nereus ‘A’ will meet their ‘B’ boat on the first day before hopefully staring down Harvard’s undefeated second lightweight Varsity crew. Their focus will be on overturning last year’s disappointing verdict against Harvard ‘A’, who arrive at Henley Royal Regatta unbeaten as a unit since last year’s Saturday exit in The Temple Challenge Cup.
Barbarians At The Gate
Has there ever been a clearer path to the final of The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for an overseas crew? Meaning no disrespect to crews including Radley College, Hampton School and Latymer Upper, the sight of both St Paul’s School and Shiplake College landing on the same side of the Draw will have warmed the hearts of both St Ignatius’ College of Australia and Marin Rowing Association of the USA. If both are all they are cracked up to be – particularly the unbeaten Aussie unit – then they may prove too strong for anything else they face in the lead-up to Sunday’s showpiece.
The schoolgirl equivalent separates Headington School and Shiplake College, but also gives 2024 semifinalists and USRowing Youth National Championship silver medallists, Newport Aquatic Center, a good shot at repeating the efforts of yesteryear. Curiously, Saugatuck were not given a selection by the Stewards, despite finishing fourth at their national championships. They will fancy their chances to do damage against the King’s School Chester and then, perhaps, Wallingford Rowing Club, who flipped the form card to make the semifinals at Henley Women’s Regatta.
Utopia
For all those who walk the lonely winter road – from erg room to squat bar to sunrise scull – this next week is for you. As a community, we have reached the summit. Henley Royal Regatta is the best week of rowing in this country and, arguably, anywhere on the planet. Nowhere else matches the drama, the elegance, the execution and the quality. From the festival of formality unfolding on the carpeted green lawns to the white-hot heat of match-racing on a fast-moving and unpredictable Thames, this is rowing at its blistering best. So little is usually made of this sport that we risk sliding from partial prominence to obsolescence without the injection of that which has evaded us in years gone by – fun. A word used sparsely in association with rowing, and even more rarely imbued, Henley brings back the fun.
Imagine, if you will, that the long winter road is falling away. Replace the biting wind with the feeling of the sun on your face as it falls low in the summer sky. Replace the isolation felt when unracking a boat at dawn with the sensation of strolling through the boat tents on an evening that is cascading forth like a waterfall of possibility. Replace the echo of your blades under a bridge swamped with traffic to a purposeful jaunt up and across Henley Bridge at dusk. Replace those moments of self-doubt, loathing, and resentment with the rich warmth of community and belonging in a town pulsating to the beat of ten thousand well-wishers. Only then will you understand what it means to set your boat on the water at Henley Royal Regatta, bows pointing northward, carried ceaselessly by the breeze and the current and nearly 200 years of history, ready to write a new chapter in rowing’s greatest story.
