Henley Royal Regatta 2019 – The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup

Given the lack of a sweep event for junior women at HRR, all these club, some even having a strong emphasis on one-oared rowing, have had to prepare for the 2112m course with no cox, and the unfamiliarity of not knowing who you are racing until 4 days before. Whoever progresses through the regatta will have to be resilient, but also clever into their approach of the race where there is a clear-cut line between winners and losers, nothing in-between.

Sir William Perkins

A crew who have come through the qualifiers in Friday, William Perkins have been better known for speed in the 2x this year rather than a quad. This was shown at National Schools where the quad missed out on qualification for the A/B semis and the double won in the 2x at Henley Womens’. Nevertheless having watched the quad paddling at Henley, they are a crew who will look to have a good race on Wednesday.

Latymer Upper A

Traditionally strong in the junior quads, Latymer A have been a reasonable quad for much of the season. They placed 2nd in the B final at National Schools and at Henley Womens’ they came 7th in the Time Trial falling at the quarter final stage to Henley. Mia Anderson rowed for GB in the 4- at Worlds last year and is going to Penn University will look to bring that experience to this crew, and three of them raced at GB France at J16.

Henley RC B

The Henley ‘B’ quad recently swapped one blade for two as they transitioned from a four to a quad for Henley Royal Regatta. At the National Schools’ Regatta they raced in the Championship Coxless Four and won, two seconds ahead of St. Michaels RC. This crew all competed in the Championship eight which took home silver at National Schools. They will have gained a lot of confidence from their recent win in the coxed four at Henley Women’s Regatta and, after showing so much depth in an array of boat classes, will definitely be expecting to go far in this event and maybe even beat some of the A crews who have qualified.

Marlow RC

The Marlow quad finished 1st in the B final of championship Girls at The National Schools Regatta. they stepped up their game in the few weeks separating NSR and Henley Women’s and managed to reach the final where they were narrowly beaten by Tideway Scullers. Dabinett, Lombardo and Brogan all gained selection for GB France last year in the coxless quad and will be carrying this experience with them in the all too familiar side by side raced which are to come later in the week.

Latymer Upper B

A crew that has not met with much success this season Latymer’s second crew endured a tough Henley campaign losing to Tideway Scullers who went on to win the event. They made it through the Qualifiers on Friday, and have been handed a tough draw against Kinross on Wednesday, and will need a big performance to make it to Thursday.

Kinross Wolaroi School, AUS

One of the foreign crews who have made the trip over to Henley, the Australian crew will not have come without a crew capable of getting a good result. This crew took a second place finish in U19 Coxless Quads at the Sydney International Regatta and despite a lack of other results (and the authors lack of patience) this crew will still be one to keep an eye on this week.

Gloucester RC

A crew who will be particularly wary of their bladework ahead of racing after the goings at National Schools, where they placed 4th, Gloucester were defeated by Headington by 1 length at Henley Women’s quarter final. This could spell trouble for Gloucester given the margin that was apparent at National Schools, and will be looking to put this right this week.

LEH

Winner of Ch8+ in a shock at National Schools, this emphasis on sweep rowing has had a detrimental effect on the performance of their sculling crews this year. 12th in NSR in the time trial, they didn’t race the A/B semi, and were beaten by their own B crew at Henley Women’s. This was changed at Henley Royal Qualifiers where the LEH a crew was the only crew to qualify. They will look to take this form into racing.

Henley RC A

After a win at National Schools’ that can be best described as fortuitous, Henley came unstuck at Henley Womens, where they lost to eventual winner Tideway Scullers in the semi finals. Of those on board, Daisy Bellamy was a part of the Marlow crew who reached the final of this competition last year. All of this girls have international experience or are trialing, with Bellamy racing for GB at Coupe last year, with Hahn as the spare for the US national team. Hannah Hills and Goeorgia Brown are trialing this year, and this will be a crew looking to trouble the latter stages of the competition.

Tideway Scullers

After a phenomenal and somewhat unexpected result at Henley Women’s Regatta the girls in this boat will definitely be looking to add some more silverware to their growing collection and are certainly one of the favourites to win. Issy Lack has been one of the most successful juniors throughout the GB trialing system over the past two years. She raced at Munich Regatta last year and Coupe last summer in the coxless quad. Ruby O’Keeffe recently competed at the Sydney International Regatta and won gold in both the J18 single and J18 double. Evelyna Davies represented Wales last year at the Home International Regatta in the double and quad. Zoe Scheske competed in the Junior 16 girls quad event at National Schools and placed second. With such a strong set of results backing up these young women I wouldn’t expect them to go down without a fight.   

Surbiton High School 

Surbiton have had a successful year so far and qualified 5th in the time trial of Henley Women’s regatta where they went on to beat Emmanuel School in their heat. However, they were then knocked out by Tideway Scullers who went on to win the event. Olivia Hunter-young competed in the Championship girls single at National Schools where she placed 21st against some tough competition.  The other three girls in the boat competed in the championship quad event where they finished 16th, just missing out on a spot in the finals. 

NCRA

The Girls from this NCRA crew have recently moved from sweep to sculling. After placing 5th in the Championship coxless four event at National Schools, it was clear they started gearing towards henley royal as they switched one oar for two in the run up to Henley Women’s where they were knocked out by Latymer Upper School in the heat. Esther Murray will have gained a lot of experience from steering a coxless four down the track and moving to a significantly easier boat in terms of steering may give these girls the advantage they need over other competitors.  

Headington School 

After a rather out of character result from Headington in the Championship Girls eight at National Schools, the girls from oxford seem to have stepped on dramatically in their sculling boats. Following their third place finish at National Schools, this quad was knocked out by Marlow in the semi-final at Henley Women’s Regatta but I have no doubt they will have put in a big shift and will be ready to up their game for the royal. Claudia Rossington and Trudie Marks have recently been selected as the Junior double at the GB France match, making it two years in a row for Marks. Alice Van Onselen previously picked up two gold medals at Coupe and new-comer Victoria Gothard has competed in numerous GB trials throughout the year and placed highly. With a boat full of GB trialists and international racers, Headington have definitely brought their A game to Henley Royal this year.  

Enniskillen 

Enniskillen have once again made their trip across the Irish sea for Henley Royal Regatta and I’d expect some big things from them. At the recent Henley Women’s Regatta Enniskillen reached the final of Junior Women’s eights where they were narrowly beaten by an American crew. On their way to the final they managed to beat both the Henley 2nd eight and Wimbledon High School, both of which are very strong programmes. Their results this week will depend entirely on their ability to transfer their power in a large sweep boat into a smaller sculling boat. 

Shrewsbury School 

The Shrewsbury quad, stroked by Liv Moir, did exceptionally well at the National Schools’ Regatta where they took home silver medals in the Championship Girls Quads. Maddie Page and Liv Moir have both competed in various GB trials this year and I would expect to see them doing big things next year as they enter J18. With no entries from this crew into Henley Women’s Regatta my guess would be that they decided to train through it and taper for Henley Royal, this tactical move could put them at an advantage over other crews. After such success throughout their season I would definitely suggest keeping a close eye on the Shrewsbury girls as the competition goes on. 

Henley Rowing Club ‘C’ 

The Henley ‘C’ quad is comprised of Pollard, Luke, Cotton and Cookson, all of whom are currently J16s. This quad won gold in the Junior 16 quad event and went on to be victorious at the prestigious Henley Women’s regatta. Della Luke has been a solid contender in the GB trialing system this year alongside Holly Cookson who was the only J16 to make Henley’s notorious first eight. These athletes are very much at the beginning of their rowing careers but with such an array of strong results behind them I won’t be surprised if we see them make it quite far in this competition. 

Lea Rowing Club

Lea have had some very promising results this year. The girls in the Junior Championship 4+ took gold at Fours Head of the river and placed second in the WJ18 8+ at Junior National Championships last year. This quad finished 6th in the A final of Junior Girls Championship quads at the National Schools’ Regatta and since then have gained a lot more experience in side by side racing.  At the recent Henley women’s regatta the Lea quad were beaten in the quarter final by Marlow, no doubt they will want to reverse this result later on this week. 

Wallingford Rowing Club 

Wallingford’s quad is made up of J16 rowers; Sharp, Turner-Frick, Grace and White. After qualifying 2nd in the time trial at Henley Women’s Regatta these girls went on to be knocked out by York City in the quarter final of the Junior 16 quads event. Unfortunately Wallingford’s senior quad finished 17th in the time trial and did not qualify to race. These girls have had a very successful season, finishing third at the National Schools’ Regatta, I’m sure they will have their hearts set on beating the other J16 crew from Henley RC whom they were narrowly beaten by earlier on this season at Nationals. 

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