You can feel it in the air. No, I’m not talking about the heat, which feels like a sickly second skin. I’m talking about the anticipation; the knowledge that this is the deep breath before the long, enduring exhalation that is Henley Royal Regatta. As the women take to the water at Henley Women’s Regatta, the men made a pilgrimage to Dorney Lake for the third and final time in the pre-Henley series to contest Marlow Regatta.
Let’s dive in and pick out some of the key narratives emerging from yet another fascinating weekend of rowing…
Eights
Is this London’s year? The results from today indeed suggest so. They won Marlow Regatta outright, seeing off allcomers, including the Brookes’ Ladies Challenge Plate eight and their closest Thames Challenge Cup rivals from Thames, who had James Rudkin riding shotgun. Despite that, London put seven seconds into their Putney rivals in a remarkable display of strength. Wary of false dawns. Stu Heap will be determined to keep his men moving in the right direction ahead of the critical juncture in their season.
Brookes secured second and third, the latter of which was an encouraging result for their Temple Challenge Cup eight. Durham’s first eight were three seconds back. With Nereus, Harvard and a smattering of other international crews to come into the fray, we’re set for a compelling men’s student eights battle.
Leander’s Thames crew were fifth overall, putting them into the conversation for Thames Challenge Cup ownership, whilst Oxford Brookes wrapped up in seventh and eighth. The B-final was dominated by St Paul’s School, who recovered from a slightly lacklustre timetrial to win their side-by-side race by eight seconds. Bedford were fifth, 12 seconds behind, but Radley College won the C-final in a time three seconds slower than St Paul’s.
Quads
Windsor Boys are in that untouchable mood again. They dominated Marlow Regatta in the junior quads, winning the timetrial by ten seconds before stretching out to a six-second margin in the A-final before allowing the field to ease back to them. They won the event at a canter and, perhaps more worryingly for others, their ‘B’ crew were third. We saw a Windsor-Windsor Fawley Challenge Cup final in 2022; could 2025 bring about a repeat?
Molesey were second here, showing great improvement from the National Schools’ Regatta, where they were fifth, whilst Leander, who finished second in the timetrial, did not start the A-final. In their absence, Claires Court, Borlase, Hartpury and Marlow filled out the remaining slots respectively.
Mark Wilkinson’s charges then took to the championship category, finishing fifth, in a race dominated by the impressive Reading University. In a year where Leander do not quite seem themselves (placing third overall here, four seconds off the pace), this could be Reading’s best shot yet at The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup. Marlow had a blistering run down the track, winning the time trial and finishing up second overall. As is almost relentlessly the case in this year’s Henley Royal Regatta, we are finely poised heading into the most critical week of the season for these outfits.
Coxless Fours
The Visitors’ and Wyfold Challenge Cups at Henley Royal Regatta are getting more compelling by the minute. Oxford University – featuring two Olympians in Nic Kohl and Nick Rusher – took the overall win to put themselves in the driving seat for the Visitors’ approaching next week. Thames – carrying Olympic gold medallist James Rudkin – slotted into second, some two seconds back on Oxford, but with plenty of recoverable ground heading into the season’s premier staging post. Rumours of Oxford Brookes’ demise have been greatly exaggerated, as they finished third, a second or so behind Thames, to propel themselves into the coxless four conversation. Don’t rule out the fast-starting Canadians from the University of British Columbia, who were in third with 500m gone but dropped back to finish fifth. The question will be who can race the right way at Henley.
In the battle for club coxless four supremacy, Thames will be desperate to reclaim a Trophy they last won in 2022. They’ve set themselves up well here, finishing fourth overall and becoming the fastest Wyfold-eligible boat. London beat Thames in the time trial but couldn’t find the required speed to overturn them in the A-final; they were sixth overall, two seconds back on their rivals. Throw into the mix some excellent overseas entries from countries including Australia, Germany, Spain, France and the USA, plus an excellent Commercial Rowing Club crew from Ireland who finished as the fastest club crew at the Metropolitan Regatta in early June, and you have a pot of potency ready to boil.
Coxed Four
The Oxford Brookes stranglehold on The Prince Albert Challenge Cup could be coming to an end. They were second in the B-final, some way adrift of the frontrunners. Instead, it was left to the University of London to collect the win, streaking clear in the final 500m to claim the overall victory. Edinburgh University won the time trial but finished second; they’ll take great stock from that performance in pursuit of their first coxed four title at Henley Royal Regatta since 2016.
The battle for The Britannia Challenge Cup rages into the night; Thames, Marlow, Molesey and London were all within six seconds of each other, with Thames – the holders of this Trophy – coming out on top. Behind them, Bristol finished seventh, and Riverfront Recapture of the USA were in eighth. Given that crews are still coming together in pursuit of red box-related glory, the field is congested in all the right ways.
