One of the most popular events at Henley for both athletes and spectators alike, the Wyfold Challenge Cup is the event for men’s club coxless fours. This event has, like the rest of the Regatta been heavily oversubscribed, so this preview will look at some of the key names who have already pre-qualified for the event.
Thames Rowing Club
Current holders of the event, Thames once again will be boating a crew who are more than capable of going the distance. This crew raced on the Sunday of the Met Regatta where they won the Open Fours event, and then again at Marlow, where they placed fourth in the A final of Championship Fours. This is a crew coming from a club who know what it takes to win at Henley at club level, and this crew is more than capable for continuing that trend.
Taurus Boat Club
Taurus is the alumni club of Oxford Brookes, so on that basis alone this crew ought to be quick with it’s pedigree in a serial winner at Henley. The results coming from this crew are ones that suggest they will be very much in contention, with a B final win on the Saturday of Met Regatta (which placed them as the second club crew), followed up with a third place finish at Marlow in Championship Fours. This is a crew that is clearly finding speed and will very much have eyes on the weekend and more.
Marlow Rowing Club ‘A’
Another of the names who’s results throughout the summer have put them well in the mix are Sir Steve Redgrave’s home club, Marlow. They were fourth on both days at Met Regatta, in the B final on the Saturday but then in the A final on the Sunday. They then stepped on again at Marlow where they placed a joint fourth with Thames, in the time trial recording the exact same time (6.01.1), finishing fifth in the final. This goes to show that this is also a crew gathering momentum at just the right time in the season.
London Rowing Club
Another of the clubs on the Putney reach, London are a club who have raced the Met and Marlow combination. On the Sunday at Met they placed eighth in the A final of Championship Four, and then improved at Marlow to take sixth in the A final in what was a tougher field, with a time very much in the mix.
Nottingham Rowing Club
Another of the common names at club level, Nottingham seems to have another crew capable of challenging once again. They won gold out at Ghent Regatta earlier this season and placed eighth at Marlow Regatta.
They were a way back on the likes of Thames and Marlow, but their time trial result was a lot closer, so there is speed in this boat. Nottingham are renowned as fierce racers which always bodes well at Henley.
Others
There are a few other entries to watch in this event. The first comes from overseas in the form of N.S.R Oslo. This is a crew who have some winners from their Britannia Crew from 2017, so should be competitive. With limited other information it is hard to know how they will stack up against domestic crews.
Other domestic entries worth noting come from the likes of Lea RC who made the final last year, Northwich RC, who were semi-finalists last year, and Vesta, who have been busy on the club circuit so far this year.
Prediction
Henley is unpredictable at the best of times, and the Wyfold is one of the most unpredictable events on the card. In such a tight event, where mistakes have been made, even the smallest error will be punished based of the times from the crews who raced at Marlow. How the draw plays out is also crucial, but I think the fight for the win will be between Thames and Taurus, a fight which I feel Thames may well prevail in, but only just.
Let the fun begin…
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