To anyone in the rowing world, the town of Henley-on-Thames would be an all too familiar location; I may even go as far as to say it is the home of International rowing. It would be only natural that such a prestigious location housed a club to match, luckily this is just the case. Henley Rowing Club was founded in 1839, making it the oldest open rowing club in the country, located just upstream from the Royal Regatta course.
The junior squad of Henley Rowing Club is renowned by fellow junior athletes in the UK for their consistent quality of crews, as well as their annual presence of athletes in the Great Britain Junior squad. The squads operate in age groups, with each squad having an appointed coach to focus the development into smaller groups, however this is overlooked by Head Coach Leon Redman, who also coaches for the GB Junior team. It can be easily argued that the success of Henley is testament to their invitational policy, where only athletes they deem ‘suitable’, after a Learn to Row course, can be invited to join the team full time, therefore strengthening the squad with the cream of the crop.
I’m sure many athletes would agree that seeing a regatta draw against Henley surely strikes a degree of fear into the opposition. On a national level, they’re known for their prestige and tough racing tactics, that are well exhibited in recent results from the 2019 season. At National Schools’ Regatta, they won six events, in both men’s and women’s events, which helped secure a course record in the Championship Girls Coxless Quad, to add to the four course records already held by the club: Championship Girl’s Eight, Girl’s Second Eight, Boys Championship Quad and Coxless Four, which therefore also demonstrated the depth of talent across both disciplines. The event that attracts athletes from across the globe: Henley Royal Regatta takes place a mere 500m from Henley’s front doors, and it seems they have home advantage on their side. For instance, in 2019, the club was able to put forward 3 crews into qualifiers for the Diamond Jubilee, one of which progressed to the semi-final, where they eventually lost to the overall victors, Latymer Upper School. This presence was mirrored in the Fawley, where two crews qualified, with the NSR winning crew losing narrowly in the final to strong opposition from neighbours Leander, despite an all-Henley quarter final just two days prior. The club does have a history of wins in these events, the inaugural Diamond Jubilee was won in 2012, as well as a 2007 win the Fawley. It will be interesting to see, with the introduction of a ‘school-girls eight’ to the Royal Regatta’s programme, whether the long-term success will be once again replicated in the event. Henley can do more than just put on a show in their own town, however, with strength across the whole squad, as shown by strong performances at the British Junior Rowing Championships, where the club have been outstanding in obtaining the Victor Ludorum for three out of the past five times the event has been run.
In addition, the Henley flag is flown across the globe by athletes at the Junior World Rowing Championships, as well as the Coup de la Jeunesse. In the 2019 season alone there were six athletes representing Great Britain, with notable performances from Pheobe Snowden in the Junior Worlds Girls Four, who won the B Final, as well as Ed Roy and Balthasar Issa, who also were victorious in the B Final of the Men’s Coxless Quad. There has been Henley representation on the Junior International platform every year since 1992, which truly represents the prestige and legacy today’s juniors carry with them. Furthering this, in 2018, Henley Rowing Club athlete Georgia Robinson Ranger went to the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, representing Great Britain in a single. To add to this list of recent achievements, the 2019 Head of the Charles Regatta, in Boston, USA saw an awe-inspiring performance in the Youth Coxed Boys Quad, where they were able to set the course record, a crew I believe would have gone onto an epic season.
When looking at the club from a holistic point of view, unlike many clubs across the country, the senior squads seem to be somewhat side-lined by the Juniors. However, this does not mean they are any less noteworthy, with the Senior Squad training six days a week on the ergs, gym and water around busy work commitments, which has resulted them with admirable performances at local events. This theme seems to be continued by the Masters Squad, with around 80 masters training in a self-organised structure, which allows both flexibility around work and home life, as well as offering the opportunity to row for leisure instead of for competing. All squads are able to train on a 5k stretch water, with the option to journey lochs to maximise time spent on the water and allow for long-distance training. There is also fantastic facilities at Henley, with a boathouse bursting at the seams with all categories of both privately owned and club boats, as well as an ergo room and gym.
It’s fair to say that both Henley’s historic prevalence and modern-day success is testament to the phenomenal coaching and athletes available at this club, moving into the 2021 season I’m sure it will transpire that time spent in lockdown was done so wisely for the Henley athletes, which will result in a very successful season for the Junior Squad – there must be something in the water!
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Images by Roesie Percy
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