With qualifiers just around the corner, Friday’s racing represents the most important time-trial many of these crews will ever do. A Hail Mary to gain access to the Regatta proper and a shot at proving the Stewards wrong. Conditions last year proved challenging for competitors, with a fierce headwind and choppy waters. Although Friday looks a little more benign, it is fair to say that the unpredictable weather patterns that seem to circulate across the Thames Valley are likely to play a role.
In light of the huge significance of Friday, JRN have decided to preview the racing, focusing on crews we believe will qualify. In the article below, we’ll cover the intermediate and club crews across seven events.
The Ladies Challenge Plate
Total: 4. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest crew will qualify.
A straight shootout – one place between four crews. Frankly speaking, I think this is a battle between Oxford Brookes ‘C’ and the composite from London Rowing Club and Isis Boat Club. The two met in the ‘C’ final of Open Eights at Marlow Regatta, with Brookes finishing third and four seconds clear of London/Isis. This should translate into a great contest come Friday.
The Visitors Challenge Cup
Total: 5. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 3 crews will qualify.
The clear stand-outs – on paper at least – are the crews from London Rowing Club and Isis Boat Club plus Radley Mariners and Tideway Scullers School. The former were sixth in the ‘B’ final of Open Coxless Fours at Marlow Regatta and the latter first in the ‘C’ final, though they were three seconds quicker in covering the course. Both should progress through to the main draw. The final crew I expect to move forward are the Thames Rowing Club and Ever Green Boat Club USA combination. Pat Hanratty won Henley Royal Regatta last year and sits at bow in this combination.
The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup
Total: 17. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 5 crews will qualify.
17 into five, which makes for fascinating racing and a brutal filter. The Prince of Wales is as competitive as I have seen it in years and I am actually really excited to see how this cup unfolds. I think Bagsværd Roklub, Denmark and Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club and Loch Lomond Rowing Club will both probably feel a little hard done-by not to pre-qualify. The Danish were seventh in the final of Open Quads at Marlow Regatta and beaten by the Scots, who finished a place and seven seconds clear. Both should progress on Friday. Bath University A will be hopeful of jumping into the frame after they won the ‘B’ final of the same event last weekend. Star and Arrow Club are an interesting grouping – Jack Beaumont is leading a crew containing multiple Henley winners including Stewart Innes and Kieran Emery. If this boat can get their act together, their knowledge of the Henley course should give them a real advantage. If Star and Arrow manage to qualify – which is no given – the last place should be a bunfight between crews including Thames B (who beat S&A at Marlow and finished a second behind Bath), Reading University B (who were fourth in the ‘B’ final at Marlow) and Glasgow University Boat Club (who finished a place and a second behind Reading).
The Thames Challenge Cup
Total: 28. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 20 crews will qualify.
This event has the most places available at Qualifiers of any event at the regatta, representing a policy far different to that adopted across many other events, where the Qualifying Races will be a brutal affair. In the Thames Cup, 28 crews will compete for 20 places, and most of the entrants are in with a good shot at qualifying. The results from Marlow Regatta provide the best idea of the standings among these crews, and for the purposes of this preview the time trial results will be the primary source of evidence as the lane allocations made a difference during the finals. The cut off seems to have been made at about 40th place, with no ‘A’ crew below this ranking pre-qualifying. Of course, there are also ‘B’ crews who placed in the top 40 who have not pre-qualified. There are a few crews that did not compete at Marlow, in this case their results from Met have been used as a comparison. Based on this , the top 20 crews that look best placed to qualify are:
- Agecroft RC ‘B’
- Auriol Kensington RC
- Cambridge ’99 RC
- Cantabrigian RC
- City of Bristol RC
- City of Cambridge RC
- City of Oxford RC
- Henley RC
- Lea RC ‘A’
- Leeds RC
- London RC ‘B’
- Marlow RC
- Minerva Bath RC
- Molesey BC ‘B’
- Nonesuch BC
- Royal Chester RC
- St Andrew BC
- Tyne ARC
- Upper Thames RC
- Vesta RC ‘B’
It should be noted that the times at Marlow we very close, and it’s entirely possible that crews who have placed outside the top 20 here could overturn some of those that got the better of them less than a week earlier. The main ones to watch out for are Vesta RC ‘C’, who were only a couple of seconds behind Henley RC, Auriol Kensington RC and St Andrew BC.
The Wargrave Challenge Cup
Total: 15. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 6 crews will qualify.
The Wargrave isn’t the most competitive event to qualify for, but certainly a tough ask given the strength across the event this year. Last year’s victors, the titanic Thames RC, are in a strong position to qualify both their ‘C’ and ‘D’ boats though, given their performances at Henley Women’s in various categories with the ‘C’ crew being made up of the same athletes who won the Copas Cup for Aspirational Club Eights.
Vesta RC ‘B’ are also in a strong position given their results so far this season, including a win at Poplar Regatta and making the D final at Met. Reflecting on the Met results specifically, it looks as though the other three crews in the best position are London RC ‘B’, Marlow RC ‘A’ and Molesey ‘B’, who were in the E, E and D finals, respectively.
Since Henley Women’s and Met, however, it’s entirely possible that some of these crews have been thrown together at the last minute, with athletes competing in other boat classes up until now. Some of these units will be high-quality, but need to go through Qualifiers having not demonstrated this so far in the season. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that we’ll see a couple of surprise results.
The Wyfold Challenge Cup
Total: 36. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 8 crews will qualify.
With eight spots available for 36 crews, the Wyfold sits in the middle of the club events in terms of competitiveness. ‘B’ crews from big clubs are generally well-positioned to take spots, including those from Thames RC, London RC, and possibly Vesta RC.
Looking through Marlow results it looks as though the prime candidates are Broxbourne RC, Kingston RC ‘A’, Maidstone Invicta RC, Newark RC and Northampton RC. That makes up the eight favourites, but given the tight margins we saw at Marlow, a good performance from other crews could see them upset the current pecking order.
The Britannia Challenge Cup
Total: 15. Subject to withdrawals, the fastest 2 crews will qualify.
This event is brutal. 15 crews will run down the Henley track in an attempt to win one of the two places at the main regatta. Based on the results from Marlow, Thames RC ‘B’ stand out as having the best chance to qualify; they might have even pre-qualified had the Stewards not adopted their usual policy of not allowing ‘B’ crews a free pass.
Behind Thames it’ll be a battle, at Marlow Reading RC were the next fastest in the time trial but they were closely followed by Radley Mariners ‘A’ and Southampton Coalporters ARC, who were also very close in their final. As the Radley Mariners crew is likely a Radley old boys lineup, it’s likely they will be on a stepper upwards trajectory, meaning they have every chance of taking
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