The Prince Albert Challenge Cup, Wednesday, University of San Diego vs Oxford Brookes University
When the University of San Diego drew the holders and perennial contenders from Oxford Brookes University in the first round of their Prince Albert Challenge Cup campaign, they were probably one or two eyes to the sky in frustration. Little did they know that they would go on to provide one of the best contests in Regatta history, tussling stroke for stroke with Brookes all the way down the 2112m course. The overhead shot illuminated just how tight the race was in the closing stages, with the Americans finding something from nowhere, having rated at 37 nearly the whole way down the course, to edge out the holders by two feet.
The Diamond Challenge Sculls, Saturday, Finn Hamill vs Oliver Zeidler
A lot was made of Oliver Zeidler’s fitness approaching this year’s Henley Royal Regatta. The Olympic champion had taken the year off after winning gold in Paris and landed in the UK on the Wednesday of the Regatta. Halfway into this contest, the doubts appeared unfounded – the big German led his semifinal by a length of clear water. No one factored the talents of Finn Hamill into the conversation, though. The crazy Kiwi had already unseated pre-Regatta favourite and World Rowing Cup winner, Simon Van Dorp, on the Friday and his gear change coming into the Stewards’ was the stuff of sculling folklore. In front of a gawping Enclosure, he rowed down the legendary Zeidler to book a place in the final.
The Island Challenge Cup, Saturday, Newcastle University vs Oxford Brookes University
A rematch of the previous year’s final, except this race featured a day earlier in 2025 proceedings. These two boats had already met – albeit in slightly different combinations – at Henley Women’s Regatta a couple of weeks earlier, with Oxford Brookes emerging as the victor to claim the aspirational academic eights title. Newcastle, though, were not to be denied their second successive spot in Sunday’s showdown. The race ebbed and flowed like every Henley Royal Regatta classic; Newcastle were the faster starters before Brookes, long and composed, took the lead around the 3/4 mile marker. At this point, momentum tends to serve the insurgency, and the crew that hits the front at this point goes on to win. Someone hadn’t told the Blue Star, though, who found an incredible final gear to pip Brookes on the line by a foot.
The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy, Sunday, Headington School vs Shiplake
The official verdicts down the course do not tell the story of this epic contest between two rivals who had spent the entire season trading blows on various race courses up and down the country. Headington had led the pack during the winter before Shiplake landed a big right hand in Nottingham when taking the National Schools’ Regatta title. The two were deprived of a match-up at Henley Women’s Regatta, but the final of The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy more than made up for that in one of the best races we’ve ever seen in this competition. Headington led throughout, but Shiplake pushed again and again and again. With ten strokes left to go, it appeared that the Bees had hit the front, but Ryan Demaine’s expertly trained young women found the fastest ten finshers of their lives to secure their second successive title by 1/4 of a length.
The Stonor Challenge Trophy, Sunday, Greece vs Netherlands
This was where the JRN Fantasy Henley surge came alive. Smart money was on the Dutch duo, who had won the 2025 European Rowing Championships and placed second at the Varese World Rowing Cup. There was just something innately Henley about the Greek pairing, though, which comprised Olympic bronze medallist, Zoi Fitsiou, and lightweight U23 world champion, Evangelia Anastasiadou. The race exemplified both crews’ unique styles; the Dutch were all poise and panache, but the Greeks felt racier, hungrier, and so it proved. The closing stages saw Anastasiadou and Fitsiou launch a stunning counter-attack that overhauled the Dutch on quite literally the last stroke of the course to win by a foot.
