Holders: Leander Club
Entries: 11
Oxford Brookes University ‘A’
With three crews entered into the Ladies’ Challenge Plate, Brookes are riding high atop the domestic rowing scene. We have not seen this sort of depth in recent lifetime and it is a glowing testament to the program Richard Spratley and Henry Bailhache-Webb have built. Their top crew are essentially undefeated as a unit, toppling opposition at Marlow, Metropolitan, Duisberg and Ghent Regatta. They were runners-up at the San Digeo Crew Classic, behind California’s Varsity eight and well ahead of a boat from Rowing Canada. They’ve enjoyed a fierce rivalry with Leander all season, holders and home favourites, which will likely be renewed on Henley waters. Brookes have had a hand in winning this event for four of the past five years and with their Temple, Prince Albert and Island crews also looking pretty special, the 2023 edition of Henley Royal Regatta could be a historic one for the boys in burgundy.
Leander Club
I consider Leander’s win in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate in 2022, ahead of a California fresh from a season-topping victory in Varsity Eights at the IRA National Championships, as one of the great results in recent Henley Royal Regatta history. That crew rowed with such poise and determination and their fierce rhythm was simply too irresistible for their opposition, which included a very capable boat from Yale University in the earlier rounds. This year, this crew have played second-fiddle to Oxford Brookes for much of the year, finishing second to them at the Metropolitan Regatta. They chose not to appear at Marlow Regatta so their speed is a relative unknown. This boat is loaded full of talent, including senior internationals Harry Glenister and George Rossiter, and on home water, stranger things have happened.
Oxford University and Leander Club
Is this the British men’s U23 eight? Stroked by double IRA-winning Iwan Hadfield and steered by Scott Cockle, men’s coach at Brown University and twice an U23 World Champion, this boat will fancy their chances against any grouping next week. Theo Bell is straight out of the six seat of the Princeton 1V whilst Elliot Kemp switches from Cal’s winning 2V to this crew. Joe Willis hails from Syracuse, Felix Rawlinson from Dartmouth, Caspar Griffin from Stanford and Connor Brown from Brown University. The only athlete in the boat without US representation is James Forward, who has spent his student years rowing at Oxford University and was the bowman of the Oxford Blue Boat in 2023.
Leander Club and Oxford University
A crew dripping in U23 talent and Henley pedigree, this boat is stacked full of personnel who usually ply their trades overseas at the big American collegiate institutions. Balthasar Issa, Gabriel Obholzer and Simon Nunayon comprise seats six, five and four, all of whom have previous at Henley Royal Regatta (Balthasar was a beaten finalist in 2019 whilst both Simon and Gaby won in 2019 and 2021 respectively). It will be very interesting to see just how fast this boat are moving and how they match up to more established units from Brookes and Leander.
Algemene Rotterdamsche Studenten Roeivereniging Skadi and Delftsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Proteus-Eretes, Netherlands
Fourth at Duisberg Regatta, behind two boats from Brookes and the Leander outfit mentioned above, this Dutch crew will need to have stepped on considerably since mid-May if they’re hoping to seriously challenge the latter. A large chunk of this crew finished seventh at World Cup 3 in Lucerne last year and were Dutch national champions in 2022 too. Cox Aniek van Veenen steered the Dutch women to a second place at the 2022 World Championships. This is a talented group of athletes but their collective speed so far has been shown to be wanting in comparison to the front-runners of the Ladies’ Challenge Plate.
Hollandia Roeiclub, Netherlands
This is the Dutch U23 men’s eight, here for a rumble against the best that the British can offer. Last we heard, selection was still ongoing and they were expecting to strengthen the existing entity with imports from the US collegiate season who were returning after a season of battle in the states. Holland tend to fare well at Henley Royal Regatta, as evidenced by their many wins throughout the history of student, club and intermediate events. Hollandia will have to be on their ‘A’ game to find the speed to turn over Brookes, Leander and the British U23 eight.
Oxford Brookes University ‘B’
Featuring a couple of athletes who won the Temple Challenge Cup in 2022, it’s a sign of the times that I feel a need to feature two of Brookes’ entries into one of the Regatta’s premier eights events. This crew were fifth at the Metropolitan Regatta and seventh overall at Marlow Regatta, losing out to three other Brookes crews and boats from Thames, Sydney and the University of London. Depending on the draw, this crew will do well to get beyond the first round.
Predictions
Depending on the draw, I think the weekend will likely be Oxford Brookes A, Leander, Hollandia Roeiclub and one of the Oxford/Leander boats. From there, it’s really anyone’s guess. I think we’ll see Brookes ‘A’ in the final – who faces them will very much depend on relative speeds approaching the event and the way the draw falls.
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