Henley Royal Regatta is seen as the pinnacle of our sport. Located in the historic town of Henley-on-Thames, the regatta serves as a goal for clubs to aspire to; a competition where Olympians and club seniors are pitted against one another in the same arena, with the feckless being left by the wayside instead paving the way for the diligent crews to reap their rewards. Every stroke taken is the product of a gruelling winter season, of long mornings and late nights, all for the honour of representing their club – and sometimes their country – on the Henley course.
This year, however, there are no umpire launches, no close action, no historic upsets and no crowning glory for the crews. No juniors will be able to represent their club and battle it out with s the best in the world. The racing has stopped this year for the first time since the world wars. The banks lay silent and the crowds lay dormant. Truly a disappointing omission from the racing calendar.
Throughout the regatta, there are the events that are held for the up and coming junior rowers. These rowers have a significant amount of potential whether it be at a national or international level. For junior men, there are two events that are saturated with talent: the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, where the fast-paced junior eights face off against each other. This is raced alongside the equally competitive Fawley Challenge Cup, where crews compete in the junior quads. The quads are one of the most elegant of the boats that will grace the Henley course and are a favourite amongst the juniors, with most start their rowing career in sculling boats.
Last year the Fawley Challenge Cup was won in stunning fashion by Leander Club ‘A’ as they beat the locals, Henley Rowing Club ‘A’, While the Princess Elizabeth Cup was won by Eton College as they beat crowd favourites Scotch College from Melbourne in a close one and one-quarter lengths. There will be no events this year, so this is instead dedicated to offering a fantasy programme for what some of the Henley racing could have looked like in both the Princess Elizabeth and the Fawley Challenge.
The Fawley Challenge Cup
With trials having been cut I’ve taken the liberty of guessing the top eight crews for both the Fawley and the Princess Elizabeth. In the Fawley my predicted top eight are Henley Rowing Club, Tideway Scullers School, Leander Club ‘B’, Saint Peter’s College (NZL), Leander Club ‘B’, Christiana Rokub, Maidenhead Rowing Club, and Lea Rowing Club. These eight have all been selected based on their races from last year, and their performances as a club overall at Henley Royal Regatta.
Friday
Making it to the Friday of Henley Royal is a huge honour something only crews with the peak of determination can attain.
The first race of the days sees Henley RC face off against Tideway Scullers School. Tideway take an early lead and hold roughly a boat length in front of Henley RC, despite some steering issues when coming out the gate. Despite failing to break away from Henley who remain within a length of their opponents down the course, Tideway take the round in a narrow half-length win.
Following that is the line up of Leander ‘B’ vs Saint Peter’s College, having travelled from New Zealand Saint Peter’s are looking for a strong result after last year’s success where they knocked out Saint Paul’s in the first day. However, Leander took a strong lead and were able to hold it by a couple of lengths and took that lead to the finish to make it through to the weekend.
Having made quite the impression last year travelling whereupon arriving from Norway the Christiania Roklub defeated Chester-Lee-Street and Enniskillen Royal BC the Norwegians made it through to the third day of racing last year, but were eventually defeated by Claires Court on the Friday. This year, Christiania Roklub face off against 2018 runner-up Maidenhead RC. As soon as they left the gates, the Maidenhead crew started to drop behind with Christiania taking the win here by 1 ½ length.
Having spent their time training on the rRiver Lea and the Royal Docks in London, Lea rowing club are the next contenders to take on Leander ‘A’. Least year Leander A took the Fawley win, whilst Lea were dropped on the Friday after being beaten by Leander B. Unfortunately for Lea, Leander ultimately take the lead after some very close racing where Lea are edged out of the win by only a half-length.
Saturday
Looking towards the Saturday as the weekend feeling hits crews and crowds alike, the reality that one of the four remaining crews will stand the test and be able to call themselves Henley champions heightens tensions in the boat tents. Following their win on Friday, the first line up will see the Thames-based Tideway Scullers school take on Leander ‘B’. Coming from a club of great pedigree, last year saw Leander ‘B ‘make it to the Saturday only to be felled by their own ‘A’ crew who went on to take the Fawley title. The racing this year, however, was cut and dry with Leander ‘B’ take a sizeable lead over Scullers at the halfway mark, which grew to two lengths allowing Leander ‘B’ to claim the space in the final that they were denied last year.
The second Fawley race of the day sees the underdogs – Christiania Roklub – take on the giants that are Leander ‘A’. Having seen their ‘B’ crew progress earlier the ‘A’ crew are were keen to join them. After taking their places on the starting gate, the race is paused following the sighting of a log on the water, making the time waiting for the race to begin even more tense. The course is cleared, and the race has begun. At the end of the island, Leander had stolen the lead and despite some valiant pushes from Christiania, Leander laid down the gauntlet and were congratulated by the singular beep of the finishing line.
Sunday
Nerves? Determination? Focus? All these things and so much more rush through a rower’s head on the morning of a normal race, but waking up on Sunday and realising there’s a 100% chance of Henley glory brings with it an uneasy tension between club-mates. Both crews are up early checking, double-checking, and re-checking the boats with meticulous attention to detail; nothing is allowed to go wrong on finals day.
Both Leander ‘A’ and Leander ‘B’ have trained together and know each other well, now only the toils of the early mornings and long ergs will determine our victor. Both crews take their place on the starting boats and wait nervously for the flag to drop. The course is silent, with the crowd balancing on a knifes edge. Attention… go!
Just like that the stagnant Henley course is transformed into a flurry of pink blades, propelled by the roar of the crowd both crews successfully make it off the starting blocks and past the island neck and neck. As the two crews come barreling down the course, the ‘A’ crew begins to edge out in front but fail to break the string that connects the two crews. The ‘B’ crew starts to make an offensive to challenge their ‘A’ crew and just manage to push up on the ‘A’ crew, and with huge effort now get their bow level with the ‘A’ crew again. As the two crews move past the half-way marker there is very little to be contested between them. Moving into the last quarter of the race and a major skirmish has broken out between them with Leander ‘B’ for the first time looking like a force to be reckoned with as their bow starts to poke out in front on the Barkshire station. As they move into the last two-hundred meters, both crews have ramped it up and are driving to the line with the crowd and umpires watching in anticipation. Both finishing buzzers go off at once and a ray of confusion blankets the two crews. In quite the upset, it’s Leander B who have righted the wrongs of last year and have kept the Fawley Challenge cup safely in the confines of Caversham.
The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup
The Princess Elizabeth cup is a larger affair seeing 32 entries and not the 24 that there is for the Fawley. The Princess Elizabeth has always had a strong series of entries and has had previous winners such as Eton in 2019, Saint Paul’s School in 2018 and Scotch College, Melbourne in 2017. My fantasy list of the eight crews making it to the Friday are Hampton School, Scotch College, Melbourne, last year’s winners Eton College, Radley College, St. Paul’s School, Shiplake College, Shrewsbury School and Saint Joseph’s Prep School, USA.
Friday
The racing eight is the pinnacle of rowing events, unlike the smaller crews, this class requires oarsmen to be willing to put the work in the boat and work in harmony to achieve excellence through unity. Seeing the eights race down the Henley course has always been a highlight of the day with the junior events in particular often shaping the sport’s history, and the athlete’s future.
The first line up sees the crew from Hampton School take on the away visitors – and last year’s runner-up – Scotch College, Melbourne. Hampton have always had a very successful rowing club, producing many crews that have placed well at National Schools’ Regatta, while Scotch College have placed well at Henley over the last few years, notably second last year. As the crews line up on the gate, the cox of the Hampton boat has her hand in the air as she tries to straighten her crew, but finally, they’re off with a clean start for both crews as they settle into their racing rhythm with ease. Scotch College take a half-boat lead as they work their way down the course, with the finishing verdict being Scotch winning comfortably by a length.
Eton take on Radley in the second race of the day with Eton taking a lead almost instantly out of the blocks which they are able to retain to the line, hardly giving their opponents a chance to fight back, with every push by Radley being quickly extinguished by the Eton crew.
Shiplake against St. Paul’s is a real titan matchup, and perhaps a rarity at this point in the week, with both names weighed down by prestige and honour. However, it’s the underdogs Shiplake that take down the titans that are St. Paul’s by a small ¼ length.
St. Joseph’s Prep School from the USA are the other visiting crew as they take on Shrewsbury School, and after further debris is cleared from the course, the race is over in a flash with the Americans taking the win with a stunning 1¼ lengths over Shrewsbury.
Saturday
Following the crews into Saturday, Eton are the heavy hitters after walking away from Radley yesterday, whilst Scotch are keen to make amends and reach the final again. The crews take their places and are both off to very strong start with the initial lead going to Eton over Scotch. As the crews come down the course Eton edge out a narrow lead, forcing Scotch to prepare a huge effort to come back at their opponents. Racing eights and coming from behind is extremely difficult as the gear-shift can be difficult to obtain in such a heavy boat, but it is manageable nonetheless. Looking to the line Eton have come unstuck and Scotch manage to just push through to take them to the final.
Later in the day, the less exciting race saw the Shiplake crew making themselves known as a force to be reckoned with as they defeated the Saint Joseph’s crew by a length to secure their place in the final.
Sunday
As finals day rolls around all the crews are looking towards the chance to reach a high point in their rowing lives and make club history. As the two crews take their places on the line Scotch College find themselves thinking back to the ‘what ifs’ of least year, while Shiplake take in their surroundings and prepare to dance with a worthy adversary. The umpire calls go and the silence is shattered by the roar of the coxes and the driving force of two of the finest school eights of the year powering away from the stake boats as they begin to settle into their racing rates. Both crews are sitting around 34 strokes per minute and are committing everything in the pursuit of excellence. As the crews pass the halfway mark, Scotch College are ½ a length in front of Shiplake – a pattern continues all the way down the course – with Shiplake desperately trying to close the gap, but Scotch seem keen to end this phenomenal race on top, and with a final push the crowds see them claim the victory they were sorely denied last year by Eton. Shiplake crosses the line in second with nothing to be ashamed of. The crews cheer each other at the line, before going their separate ways, until next year.
With fictional Henley coming to a close and Scotch taking the Princess Elizabeth and Leander taking the Fawley, we can only wait until next year when Henley will return on the 29th June. See you then.
Patrick Wilkins
This article was produced as part of our Phantom Racing series for the 2020 regatta season.
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