Henley Fantasy Regatta: The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup

Wednesday & Thursday

So, at the start for the first race of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, we have Shrewsbury School against Marlow Rowing Club on the Buckinghamshire Station, a potentially dangerous position in the shadow of Temple Island. As we see them being set off, we have Shrewsbury School getting a slightly better start and, as they come past the island, they have roughly half a length over Marlow. It would appear, however, that Marlow are having considerable difficulty with their steering at this point in the race, colliding with the booms taking them out of action for the first part of this race. We now see Shrewsbury edging out a longer lead as Marlow try to recover from their crash, but at Fawley, Shrewsbury school crew come past with Marlow trailing behind by a significant margin. Both crews continue to race towards the finish and at the Steward’s enclosure the Marlow crew is attempting one last time to make a comeback, but I doubt that will happen this close to the finish. So, as expected, the crew from Shrewsbury School crosses the line with four and a half lengths over the crew from Marlow Rowing Club, with the latter being ejected from this year’s racing programme.

Back to the start for the second heat, with Henley Rowing Club ‘A’ versus Nottingham County Rowing Association. As they are sent off the line we see that Henley Rowing Club have the better start, and as they come past the Temple Island we begin to see that Henley has almost a whole-length over the Nottingham crew, meaning as they settle into their race pace, Henley are slowly pulling away from the Nottingham crew, but we will wait to see if they can keep this up the whole way. As the crews come towards the Fawley timing board we see once again that the Henley crew have quite the lead over Nottingham, and as the crews barrel towards the finish, we see that the Henley Rowing Club crew have just eased off of the power, conserving energy for the days ahead, meaning they have crossed the line with the crew from Nottingham behind by two and a half lengths.

Sat at the start now we have crews from Latymer Upper School and Enniskillen Royal Boat Club for our next heat in the junior women’s quads.  The crews have been sent off with Enniskillen Royal on the Buckinghamshire station. As the crews emerge from the shadow of Temple island, the crew from Enniskillen has come over to the middle of the river, prompting a stern warning from today’s umpire; they will need to move back before they collide with the other crew, who at the moment are half a length up as they steer perfectly down the course. As the crews come towards Fawley, the crew from Enniskillen are still in the middle of the river getting ever closer to the crew from Latymer, leading to a somewhat inevitable clash of blades and we come into Steward’s, an incident which must be a disqualification for the Enniskillen crew as they had not listened to the Umpire’s calls to get back on their side. The Latymer crew has, however, managed to keep calm and crosses the line with two lengths over the crew from Enniskillen.

Next at the start, we have the last heat of the day, with Headington School (last year’s runners up) facing off Sir William Perkins’s School. Headington are the obvious favourites but the Perkins’s crew have been making significant improvements throughout the season. As soon as they are set off, we see the Headington crew laying down their famously quick start to gain half a length over their opposition within moments. Whether this lead will last, however, remains to be seen as we come towards the Fawley timing board we see the Perkins’s crew clawing a few feet back, but the Headington crew are quick to respond and execute an effortless response as they pull away from the other crew and settle three boat lengths ahead of the opposition. Sculling ever nearer to the finish, Headington have a perfect racing line as the crews come into the Steward’s enclosure; the crews seem to be staying the same distance apart as the sprint for the line begins, but despite their opposition’s best efforts, the Headington crew come over the line first with three and a half boat lengths behind them, the Sir William Perkins’s School crew.

Friday

So now onto the Friday, where the racing intensity shifts up a gear, we have Shrewsbury School and Latymer Upper School ‘B’ eagerly awaiting the drop of the umpire’s flag on this, the first heat of the day. We have two crews from Latymer Upper School this year, so I am sure this crew remains in line with the high standards we have seen in this event so far. So, down to business. We see the crews sent off the start, and as they scull past the island, we see that Shrewsbury’s experience has allowed them a slightly better start, translating to a half-length lead at this early stage. Both crews are now racing towards the Fawley mark and the Shrewsbury crew have got just over a length lead over the crew from Latymer. Just past Fawley, we see Latymer put in a burst which causes them to claw back just a seat on their opposition. As the crews near Steward’s, Shrewsbury begin to extend their lead, and as they cross the finish Shrewsbury have got just clearwater over the Latymer ‘B’ crew.

So next we have Henley Rowing Club ‘A’ versus Lea Rowing Club, these crews are both top women’s quads, meaning an exciting race is on its way. As we set off, the Henley crew seemed to have got a slightly more controlled and quicker start to be able to edge out to just over at canvas lead over Lea as we pass the island the crews now turn their attention to racing towards the Fawley timing board, where we see both crews steering perfect racing lines, while the distance in between them of just over a canvas remains unchanged. Further down the course, we re-join the crews as they now race towards the Steward’s enclosure where, as we hurtle towards the finish, we see the final Sprint of both crews, but in spite of Lea’s best efforts, Henley continue to look slightly stronger in the closing stages of this race and as a result, hold their lead to come out with a half-length lead at the finish of this heat, meaning they will progress to tomorrow’s racing to face the crew from Shrewsbury School.

At the start once again we have Tideway scullers School again Latymer Upper School ‘A’. Latymer were the winners of this event last year, so we will see how close Scullers manage to get to this year’s crew. The Umpire has set off her crews and we see Latymer getting a very quick start with Tideway scullers just behind after we pass Temple Island. With both crews racing down towards the Fawley mark, today’s conditions could be record-material, but before we have time to consider the implications of such speed, we learn that Latymer have developed a one-length lead over Tideway, even after the Scullers put in a large burst. As the crews close on Steward’s, it appears that Scullers have managed to up the rate and come back by about a seat on the Latymer crew, as we move into the last 20 strokes, we see that Latymer have just kept their distance over the Tideway Scullers crew and as they cross the line we see that the Latymer Upper School ‘A’ crew had beaten Tideway scullers by half a length, meaning tomorrow’s semi-final match will be between Latymer and the victors of our next race…

In this last heat of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, we have Henley Rowing Club ‘B’ versus Headington School. Headington were finalists in this event last year, so they should have the upper hand over the Henley crew. The umpire drops his flag, and we’re off with the Headington crew getting a slightly better start over Henley, but it is all to play for and as we come past the Island there are only two feet between these top crews. Racing now towards the Fawley timing board we see that Headington has just got a length over the Henley ‘B’ crew. As we enter the closing stages of the race, it appears that Henley have put in one final surge to close the gap to a mere 3/4-length between themselves and the Headington crew, but it’s too little too late as we come across the line we see that the Headington school crew has won by 2/3 of a length, meaning they will be into the semi-final against Latymer upper school ‘A’ tomorrow.

Saturday

So, onto the Saturday racing, we find Henley rowing club ‘A’ and Shrewsbury School waiting at the start for this semi-final to begin. There is a slight wind today so the Henley crew will have to be careful as they come past Temple Island to not veer into the middle of the course as we have seen crews do many times in these conditions prior. These two crews should be very evenly matched so we will have to wait until the race’s completion to see how this plays out. As the crews race off the start at roughly forty strokes a minute, the Shrewsbury School crew seem to get a slightly better start and have kept their line very straight down the Henley course. Henley have dropped back about half a length off the start after some steering issues coming past temple island causing the race umpire to get involved as Henley came across into the middle of the course. But as the crews settle into their race pace they seem very evenly matched towards the barrier where it seems that Henley have taken a seat-worth of length back from Shrewsbury as they put in a push. Shrewsbury are quick to respond and take roughly three-quarters of a length from Henley.

As the crews race towards the Fawley timing board, they seem very evenly matched with Shrewsbury sitting about three-quarters of a length up on the crew from Henley rowing club. They go past Fawley in a time of 3.40 which is a little slower than the times from last year, but there is more wind to deal with today. Coming nearer and nearer to the finish the crew from Henley put in an enormous burst to come only a canvas behind the Shrewsbury crew. The crews continue racing full-power down the course getting ever nearer to the last sprint for the finish where all is to play for, with only a foot separating the two crews. As the crews come past the Steward’s Enclosure they push the stroke rate up as high as humanly possible to win this semi-final and with only a few strokes to go, it seems that the Shrewsbury School crew are just hanging on to the lead over Henley ‘A’ as they cross the line. The verdict: a quarter of a length for Shrewsbury School over Henley ‘A’. So, Shrewsbury progress into the final of the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.

This race is going to be a close one with Latymer ‘A’ racing against Headington School who find themselves on the Buckinghamshire station, very much like last year’s final which ended up with Latymer winning by one and three-quarter lengths. So, Latymer should have the mental advantage but I am sure Headington will be wanting to redeem themselves after last year’s final. There is still a slight wind as we saw in the previous semi-final of this event just a few moments ago. Whoever wins this race will face Shrewsbury school in the final tomorrow, a thought surely occupying the minds of the crews who are sat quietly at the start waiting for the race to begin. As they set off the crew from Latymer seem to have had a slightly better start with superior composure out of the gate. Coming past the island, we see that the Latymer Upper School crew has just over half a length over the crew from Headington School, eerily reminiscent of last year’s final.

As the crews race down the course it seems that the Latymer crew have just edged out to over a length lead past the Fawley timing board in a time of 3.39. Despite the strength of the Latymer crew, Headington are far from out of the race, especially considering the powerful finishes which they have become famous for. As the crews scull towards the end of the course, we see Headington put on an early sprint and come back to a canvas, which could just be enough to come past the Latymer crew who seem to be losing their grip in this crucial part of the race. Now is the time for a winning push to be launched, and as we reach the enclosures the crews are almost level, with neither crew knowing the victor as they both cross the line; we will wait to see the finish video, which reveals Latymer have just beaten the Headington school crew by an inch – I cannot wait for the final between Shrewsbury School and Latymer Upper school tomorrow!

Sunday

I have been waiting for this final all day, we have the crews from Shrewsbury school on the Berkshire Station and the winners of this event last year, Latymer Upper School ‘A’ on the Buckinghamshire Station. This is going to be a well-fought race as both these crews represent many hundreds of hours of training, culminating in the creation of two of the most experienced junior girls quadruple sculls in the country. The crews seem to be quite close on paper but, let’s wait to see how they fair against one another in the real world. As these high calibre crews are sitting at the start waiting for the umpire to send them down the world-famous Henley course, the close-up shots show both boats meticulously checking their racing lines; every inch counts today. Suddenly, with a flurry of excitement, the umpire drops his flag and the crews roar to life. As they begin their final race of this campaign, we see both boats getting the rate very high off the start, roughly forty strokes a minute, so as they come past Temple Island you can see the crew from Latymer has only managed to develop a lead of about two feet over Shrewsbury.

As the two crews race down the course we can see the crew from Latymer are starting to veer out into the centre of the river, as they’re forced to undertake a steering correction, we see the Shrewsbury crew capitalising on their opposition’s flaw, causing these two crews to come back level as they come past Fawley, which tells us they have gone past the middle of the race in a time of 3:35, which is quicker than the past few year’s finals. These crews are pushing each other to the max, and as we approach the closing stages of the final, it quickly becomes apparent that one of these crews must make a radical move to secure their place at the medal ceremony. So, now approaching the Steward’s Enclosure we see the crew from Shrewsbury put in an early push to gain a canvas over the Latymer crew, who by this point appear extremely fatigued, did they go out too hard too soon? Coming to the end of the enclosures, we’re treated to the textbook technique of the Shrewsbury school crew, who look surprisingly relaxed in their style even though their opposition is only half a length behind them this close to the finish.

As the crews enter the last fifteen strokes we see both push the rate up even higher than it was previously. Shrewsbury now have a half-length over the crew from Latymer, and in the nick of time – just meters away from the finish. As they cross the line the crew from Shrewsbury are elated; they have stolen the crown from last year’s winners and will be rewarded handsomely later this evening with medals and Champagne galore.

With this edition of fantasy Henley coming to a close and with Shrewsbury taking the win in the Diamond Jubilee, we can only eagerly await Henley 2021, scheduled to begin on the 29th June. See you then.

This article was produced as part of our Phantom Racing series for the 2020 regatta season. 

Hungry for more? Check out our other Covid-19 Features here, or catch the latest episode of our podcast here. 

You can keep up with the latest content from across our team on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and via our new platform: Updates

About The Author

George Staden

See author's posts