Sunday's Racing Sessions

conditions: Overcast, rain, breaks of sunshine.

Battle of The Brit

Royal Chester Rowing Club fought a hard battle with Thames Rowing Club in the Final of The Britannia Challenge Cup. Both crews raced valiantly, with Chester narrowing the gap at the Quarter Mile to a quarter of a length. However, Thames won the first race of the day by one length.

Homecoming

Windsor Boys’ School dominated from the beginning of the Final of The Fawley Challenge Cup. Marlow pushed themselves and their opponent, but ultimately were outdone by the power and technical bladework of the Windsor Boys’, who won the Cup for the fourth time.

Triple Threat

Defending champions, Thames Rowing Club, returned to race London Rowing Club in the Final of The Wargrave Challenge Cup. The favourites to win took an early lead and continued to pull away from their opponents, winning the Wargrave Challenge Cup for the third year running.

Double Trouble

The Final of The Double Sculls Challenge Cup between the British ‘Project LA’ outfit and a well-drilled pairing from the USA created some excitement in this morning’s racing. Starting sharp, the Brits led the Americans from the end of the island. Despite an aggressive attack from Cunningham & Fuller at the Mile to narrow the gap, the crew representing Leander could respond and continued to move away. Ultimately, Leander Club came away from this contest as victors by two lengths.

Dangerous Driving

A historic Henley Final, for more than one reason, played out between Marlow and Thames in today’s race for The Wyfold Challenge Cup. Both crews shot off the start blocks, with the Putney-based club edging out to take a narrow lead at the Quarter Mile. The determined crew from Marlow never let their foot off the gas and kept pressure on Thames all the way down the course. Alongside the progress boards, Marlow moved through Thames and had a dramatic clash in neutral water. Marlow came out on top of the struggle to claim their club’s first Henley Royal Regatta win in ten years.

Oh, Canada

An epic encounter, this race kept spectators on the edge of their seats in The Town Challenge Cup. A fast start gave Leander a ⅓ length advantage into the Quarter Mile and within the next one hundred and fifty metres, they had extended this to ¾ of a length. Thinking they were secure, Leander held Canada at ¾ of a length until the Three Quarter Mile, but it was at Remenham that the Canadians began to hunt down Leander’s lead. Drawing level at the Mile and One Eighth, audiences in the enclosure were treated to a show. Upping their rate beyond forty, Canada dug deep and sprinted to the line, winning The Town Challenge Cup on most of the crew’s Henley debut.

Allez Les Bleus

The Final of The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup was an international match with representation from France and Canada. Despite a couple of pushes from the Canadians, they could never reestablish contact with the French crew, who won by one-and-three-quarter lengths.

An Ambush of Tigers

Both crews rated very similarly throughout the duration of the race, but it was Princeton who worked the water more effectively and commanded the competition from the first stroke. Unsatisfied by their one-length advantage, Princeton used the last few hundred metres to create a length and two-thirds of clear water between themselves and Cambridge. Overall, Princeton claimed victory in The Ladies’ Challenge Plate by 2 ⅔ lengths.

German Precision

In the Final of The Stonor Challenge Trophy, the German double declared dominance over the British and didn’t allow them to come close throughout the entire race. Managing to sustain a four-length lead over the majority of the course, the pushes of the British crew were futile, and they were unable to recover the lengths lost early on.

No Trouble for Thames

A comfortable race for Thames R.C. in The Thames Challenge Cup. By the time Thames had taken the lead, the Dutch simply couldn’t respond effectively enough to destabilise Thames’ path to victory. Thames won the Cup with a third-length lead.

Vier für Zeidler

This Final of The Diamond Challenge Sculls marked Oliver Zeidler’s third consecutive Henley victory. Plihal sculled hard but was outdone by Zeidler, who had already moved six lengths away from him by Fawley. Zeidler’s fourth victory never looked in jeopardy as he beat Jacob Plihal, a fellow Olympic-bound athlete, ‘easily’.

Brookes’ Race Takes a Turn-ell for the Worse

In race 13 of the day for The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, firing off the blocks, this race started out tight with only two feet separating the two crews at the Quarter Mile. From here, Leander drew ahead, bolstered by the Blue Star bow seat, Bruce Turnell’s ‘beautiful steering’. Meanwhile, Oxford Brookes fought hard but received repeated warnings for their steering and couldn’t catch the boys in pink. In the end, Leander Club claimed victory in The Visitors’ Challenge Cup by one length.

Turning The Tide

A battle between the first winners of this event and a crew aiming to continue the foreign domination of the past two years, both had a high rate off the start, with Headington taking an early lead of ½ a length to the barrier, which they extended past Fawley and never truly looked like losing. Try as they might, RowAmericaRye could not unseat the local champions, and Headington surged towards the finish, eventually winning The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy by two lengths.

Hat-Trick Secured for Leander

A tidy start allowed the German quad to lead until the Barrier, Leander trailing ¼ length behind. Approaching Fawley, Leander made a sustained push, which inched them up to 1 ¾ lengths in front of the Germans by the Mile. In a desperate bid to reclaim their advantage, the Braunschweig & Magdeburg crew dashed towards the line and recovered the best part of a length, but unfortunately they came up short, and Leander triumphed in The Queen Mother Challenge Cup to secure their third win of the day.

A Brookes Trio

Today was the third victory for Brookes in the four years that The Island Challenge Cup has existed. Entering this race as favourites, Oxford Brookes just proved too fast for the spirited Newcastle crew to catch up to, and they won by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Boys in the Booms

Torrential rain and a broken oar made this Final of The Grand Challenge Cup tense. Brookes, in some capacity, have won this event for the past three years. Washington, however, is yet to claim the title.

The race started off just as everyone would have expected: strong, punchy, and precise. Both crews drew level, intensifying the atmosphere of the race as a lead was yet to be established. Washington made the first move and crept ahead. Brookes remained focused and did not respond to Washington’s early lead. Brookes continued to row long and powerfully to maintain contact with their competition. This early lead by Washington was short-lived, approaching the barrier, Brookes had drawn themselves level with Washington.

Washington was applying pressure to Brookes, not letting them slip away, but in the heat of racing, the steering of the Washington boat went awry, causing them to hit the booms. The mistake gave Brookes an opportunity to storm into a lead, which they inevitably did. Despite Washington’s prompt recovery, the seconds it took to get back on track gave Brookes a two-length lead that Washington failed to mitigate. After the crash happened, a winner could have been easily called by the one and one-eighth mile; Washington was three and three quarter lengths down from Brookes’. Oxford Brookes University and Taurus Boat Club crossed the line to be crowned winners of The Grand Challenge Cup.