Ah, the coxless four. A demanding and fiercely competitive boat class, requiring the utmost finesse while still laying down maximal power, consistently producing some of the closest races of the day. The crews entered here in the championship division will all be looking to put their best foot forward in ongoing Henley Royal Regatta preparations. Many of these crews will be eyeing The Wyfold Challenge Cup, and some The Visitors’ Challenge Cup.
There’s no dearth of talent in this field. As ever, I’ll be previewing the ‘main players’ before offering a prediction of which crews will make the A Final, and what the top three finish order might look like.
Eton Vikings Club
An interesting entry here from the Eton old boys. Stroked by Max Ridgwell, the former Imperial College strokeman who won The Thames Challenge Cup with Thames back in 2023, backed up by Edinburgh alumnus Henry Pooley and Oxford Blue Benedict Aldous, and set up in bow by ex-Durham athlete Sam Irving, there is plenty of talent and experience here. Alumni boats aren’t always in the best physical shape, but with a solid block of training I think these guys should have some decent pace. There’s a good mixture of power and finesse here, too; I wouldn’t be surprised to see these guys in the middle of the A-final pack, though that is totally dependent on how much rowing these guys have actually been doing.
London Rowing Club
London’s Wyfold four is entered here, featuring a veteran ensemble of Eduardo Marshall, Rui Xu, James Clarke and Ben Edmondson. There’s plenty of experience here. Both Clarke and Xu were in last year’s Thames Challenge Cup crew; before that, Clarke had a successful four years at Harvard. Marshall rowed last year in the pretty quick Prince of Wales Challenge Cup quad. This four has been together since the Metropolitan Regatta, though it’s worth mentioning that London, with a slightly different lineup, won in challenge fours at Wallingford Regatta. At the Metropolitan, the London boys performed well in the time trial, taking fourth, just a second behind the Thames Visitors’ four, and a few seconds behind their Wyfold four and the winning Oxford combination. London ended up not racing the final, leaving their relative speed in a side-by-side showdown unknown. This sets up a pretty tantalising matchup this weekend, as London prepares to face down Thames and potentially put themselves on the path towards recapturing the Wyfolds – an event they last won in 2023. Certainly ones to watch for a podium finish.
Oxford University Boat Club
Oxford, somewhat confusingly, aren’t actually entered into the Championship category here; both of their entries are in Tier 2. However, I’ve chosen to preview them anyway as I fully expect the top four here to take the win overall. It’s a powerful combination from the Dark Blues, with US Olympic medallist Nick Rusher in the bow seat, Italian Olympian Nic Kohl in two, Oxford veteran, former Princeton Tiger and German U23 international Tassilo von Mueller in three, and Felix Rawlinson stroking, the Dartmouth rower who just made his GB senior team debut at World Rowing Cup I, in the pair. Oxford won the championship fours at the Metropolitan Regatta just a couple of weeks ago, with a slightly weaker boat – Tom Sharrock has now been switched out for Rusher. Given all that, I’m confident in picking this Oxford crew for the win here. They’ve beaten pretty much everyone in this field already, and I reckon their second crew, featuring Sharrock and James Doran, who has won both The Ladies’ Challenge Plate and The Grand Challenge Cup, and has been a mainstay of the Oxford Blue Boats for the last few years, should also be right up there. Why these guys aren’t racing championship, I have no idea.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
Two very strong Brookes entries here, both of which will probably have an eye on winning the category outright. The first four features Brookes mainstay and Temple winner Connor Mcgillan in the stroke seat, backed up by former Boston University rower Jono Cameron, who was part of the Visitors-winning combination back in 2023. They’re joined by U23 International and Prince Albert Challenge Cup winner Richard Hawes, and another Temple winner, Max Mills, at bow. In the other Brookes coxless four, seasoned veteran Toby Lassen – now with a senior international vest to his name – is joined by the Arnerich brothers, both of whom have won The Prince Albert Challenge Cup and The Temple Challenge Cup, as well as Ed Lemanowicz in stroke, who also won The Temple Challenge Cup last year. There’s so much experience here, and these guys will, I’m sure, be very keen to put Brookes back on the right footing. It’s difficult to say which of these crews will target The Visitors’ Challenge Cup; selection is likely ongoing. Whatever the case, I think both crews will have a good shot of making the podium at least, with the Lassen four having the edge.
Thames Rowing Club
The Thames fours present an interesting case this year. Their top four, targeting The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, features Olympic gold medallist James Rudkin and former Henley Royal Regatta winners James Palmer, Josh Braithwate and James Beattie. This combination should be – and is – very fast, but it is seemingly not the fastest four that Thames are currently fielding. Their Wyfold combination – Calum Betteley, Joe Stobbs, Alex Wood and George Prior – are currently taking that honour; they finished ahead of The Visitors’ Challenge Cup combination at the Metropolitan, well ahead of the next Wyfold competitor. This suggests a few things; one, evidently, Thames once again have some enviable depth. Two, the Visitors’ four probably isn’t moving quite as fast as expected. And three, The Wyfold Challenge Cup four are currently firm favourites to take home the Henley Royal Regatta trophy. It will be interesting to see how the results shake up this weekend – have the Visitors boys taken a substantial step on? Can the Wyfold combination see off the threat from London? We’re in for a ferocious race, with inter and intra-squad rivalry on full display.
Vesta Rowing Club
This is the Vesta top combination, honed by the experienced eye of James Cracknell, and I think it should be a strong entry here. Featuring three athletes from the 27th-placed Head of the River Race crew – Tristan Taylor, Chris Hall and Alex Nash – and Finn Meinecke, who was part of Vesta’s Thames Challenge Cup crew last year, I think these guys will surprise some people this weekend. Cracknell has run a rigorous programme to push the club into the upper echelons of British club rowing, and he’s poured plenty of time and effort into this crew specifically. I would consider these guys in with a shout at the A-final.
University of British Columbia, Canada
A very interesting overseas entry from UBC, featuring some pretty high-level talent. The big name here is Liam Smit; he was a Youth Olympian, was part of Canada’s senior quad in the 2023 season, and made Day four of The Diamond Challenge Sculls back in 2023, falling to the impervious Ollie Ziedler. Smit is an absolute powerhouse and will drive this crew from the front. He’s joined by U23 international Aidan Hembruff, who rowed in Canada’s men’s eight at the U23 World Rowing Championships last summer, Sam Stewart, and Maijken Meindertsma. With an eye on The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, I think these guys will definitely be ones to watch. UBC has produced some exceptional talent over the last few years, Smit included, and they may well be the dark horses here.
Other crews
There are a host of other club crews here that will be pushing for A-final spots, including Molesey and Tyne Amateur. Watch out for a decent UL combination in the mix, too.
Prediction
In terms of the A-final, I’m going to go with both Oxford crews, both Oxford Brookes crews, both Thames crews, one London crew and the UBC combo. Very tricky to judge the podium, but I’m going to go with Oxford‘s top combination out front, followed by Lassen’s Brookes four, and followed up by Thames‘s Visitors entry.
Good luck to all crews.
Five Man
