Holders: Imperial College London and Leander Club
Entries: 7
As with the Grand Challenge Cup this has the potential to be a GB v Canada final. Great Britain, racing as Leander Club ‘A’, has four of the crew which won the title last year (Rowan McKellar, Lauren Irwin, Esme Booth and Emily Ford). They are joined by Natasha Morrice, Karen Bennett, Harriet Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde and coxswain Henry Fieldman (the first man to cox a senior British women’s 8). They raced at the European Championships last month picking up a silver medal. They are also racing at the Varese World Cup in a straight final which includes the Canadians. Canada, racing as Maple Bay Rowing Club, has all but one of the crew that finished in bronze medal place at the 2022 World Championships; Kirsten Edwards, Alexis Cronk, Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Morgan Rosts, Avalon Wasteneys, Jessica Sevick, Sydney Payne & coxswain Kristen Kit. The new member of the crew is Kristina Walker who raced in the pair last season. Four of the crew (Kit, Gruchella-Wesierski, Wasteneys and Payne) were in the crew that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
The draw should place these two crews on course to meet in the final, but they will both face some potential upsets on their route to Sunday’s racing. There will (hopefully) be a tasty match-up, draw permitting, between the bronze medalists and fifth place from this year’s NCAA Championships. The University of Texas and Princeton University have both made changes to the line-ups that raced the NCAA’s. Texas (fifth at the NCAAs) has all but one of their first Varsity crew; Etta Carpenter, Sophia Calabrese, Susannah Temming, Kelsey McGinley, Kathia Nitsch, Anna Jensen and cox Rachel Rane. They are joined by Hannah Medcalf from the 2V. Princeton (who won bronze at the NCAA’s) also bring five of their first Varsity to Henley – Camille Vandermeer, Zoe Scheske (another Brit, this time from Latymer), Dutchwoman Cornelia de Croode Jongh, Lucy Koven and cox Hannah Diaz. The rest of their crew for Henley are from their 2V who finished one place ahead of Texas in the 2V NCAA Grand Final, Ella Barry, Cordelia Mahoney (the second of 3 Brits in the crew and from Headington School), Margot Leroux and Katherine Kalap (who went to Hartpury College in Gloucester and raced with Tideway Scullers in the Princess Grace in 2021). It would be a real shame if these two crews don’t get to race each other down the Henley course.
The Netherlands has entered a development crew, racing as Hollandia Roeiclub. They opened their season with a race at the Wedau Regatta in Duisburg where they finished third behind Oxford Brookes University and Leander Club. They have been strengthened since then with the addition of the experienced international Karien Robbers (who won a European silver medal in 2021).
Leander has a second crew entered, which is a Great Britain development crew, two of whom (Laura McKenzie and Isabelle Hawes) were in the Leander eight that beat the Dutch in Duisburg. The majority of the crew are all US based with athletes from SMU, Yale, Tulsa and Texas.
The final entry in the event is a composite racing as Marlow Rowing Club and Leander Club. All of the crew are US-based athletes, and as is often the case at Henley they get together as a composite to race at the regatta. There are three rowers from Cal – Della Luke, Amy Furlonger and Julia Hunt-Davis (daughter of Olympic champion and Steward, Ben) alongside one each from Iowa (Emma Dabinett), Washington (Abigail Adebiyi), Yale (Imogen Cabot – the only non-Brit in the boat), Ohio (Muryn Greene) and Duke (Lily Abbott). This crew would probably also fancy a crack at Texas and Princeton.
Predictions
With GB beating out Canada at the second World Cup by the smallest of margins, it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top over the slightly longer Henley course. It’s one-nil to Great Britain at the moment and it would take a brave man to bet against them on home water.
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