Review
An atmospheric fever greeted the first ever Tuesday of Henley Royal Regatta 2022. A substantial headwind created slower conditions, with crews commenting on how ‘long’ the racing experience was. Such a dynamic field has set up some interesting contest ahead of Thursday’s rounds.
Race 10: York City Rowing Club vs Northwich Rowing Club
Despite maintaining a 3 length lead for the majority of the race, a relentless York crew showed little mercy over there Northwich opponents, threatening them steering in the mid- section of the course, which earnt the eventual victors several warnings from umpire Andrew Crawford. Northwich however held a persistent and clean attack despite circumstances. Race 10 between Trentham and Mosley, while being tight from the barrier, saw Trentham cruise to a seemingly effortless victory, but I must mention the technical prowess and superb steering from the Mosley crew.
Race 15: Shrewsbury School vs Sir Williams Perkin’s School
Possibly the most closely contested race of the morning was found in the Shrewsbury-William Perkins duel. After holding level until Renemham, the Perkins crew found their ground and built a length lead which was maintained across the line. The girls from Perkins commented the effect of the wind on the race: ‘we kept fighting and didn’t let the wind break us and pushed through into the second half’. When speaking, they also stressed the importance of a crew mentality ‘we had to stay strong and stay together and kept talking, that definitely helped our motivation’.
Race 46: Tideway Scullers School vs George Heriots’ School
With both crews veering off the start, TSS and George Heriots’ matchup culminated in an exciting race. Rating 35 in the first half, Heriots prevented TSS from leading by any more than a length. While this gap widened as Tideway established their striking rhythm, the eventual verdict was just a length and ½. When speaking to them, the TSS crew stressed how Tideway experience has ‘set them up for conditions like this, even in events such as Women’s head, the conditions don’t amount to this’.
Other races produced straight forward results with no controversy, but well fought rowing especially in windy conditions.
Preview
All Diamond Jubilee crews will see a temporary hiatus until Thursday, while smaller crews take on the course. However, with the introduction of seeded crews there will be perhaps bigger margins and quicker times (hopefully helped by kinder conditions).
A Bedford Modern and Shiplake pairing may appear like an obvious result, but with BMSBC showing surprising speed against Rob Roy, I look forward to them beating any prejudgements. Similarly, I look forward to the Perkins-Lea matchup. While the former crew has seen success in smaller boats this season (HWR double placing second in time-trail) their speed shown today justifies a tight competition for the talented Lea crew.
Tideway will be anticipating a matchup against Marlow, who have an impressive roster. However considering crew size and Tideway’s undeniable experience in smaller boats and rougher conditions, their ability to pace may outweigh the power of Malow.
Kingston Grammar and Wycliffe will see contest and perhaps a grudge match! Racing against each other at Henley Women’s, KGS failed to show their full talent after an early crash saw them disqualified. With a win under their belt it will be fascinating to see what they will throw (unexpectedly) against the seeded crew.
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