Henley Royal Regatta 2023 – The Visitors Challenge Cup Preview

Holders: University of Washington

Entries: 18

The best week in rowing is almost upon us once again. Henley – that evocatively historic, brutal tournament; the pinnacle of the sport for some, a British summertime institution for others – is back.

This year, I’ll be previewing the Visitors Challenge Cup for Intermediate Coxless Fours. It’s one of my favourite events at Henley – always with a great entry list featuring a ton of domestic and international talent. Its intermediate status means that it attracts some really outstanding crews from many different backgrounds (junior, club, university, U23, senior development, etc), but it also means that the highest-level international crews can’t come and dominate it year-on-year. The list of clubs that win each year is diverse, and some of the matchups are truly electric (just see last year’s final between the University of Washington and the GB U23s for evidence of that).

For this preview, I’m going to focus on who I believe will be the quickest crews in the competition, with a final prediction at the end.

ASR Nereus, Netherlands

Nereus have a great crew entered here, all of whom were part of the Temple-winning Nereus 8+ in 2021. They’ve raced a fair amount already as a unit, winning the B Final in Duisburg most recently, and have shown some good speed – though this crew is on the smaller side, and probably won’t have the power to be able to hang onto some of the bigger crews in the event, like Leander or one of the American units. What they lack in raw power they certainly make up for in efficient, smooth technique, characteristic of many Dutch crews, so I would expect that they’ll be able to hold their own (particularly given the wealth of Henley experience in the crew).

Cambridge University

Cambridge have an entry here of four Blue Boat athletes – Ollie Parish, Luca Ferraro, Tom Lynch and Brett Taylor. This should be a very solid unit. Parish and Ferraro, both of whom were in the CUBC 4- that made the Friday at HRR ’22, are a very quick unit; they were stern pair of the Boat Race-winning Cambridge boat earlier this year, and were the GB U23 2- last summer. They have a ton of experience together, and should be very effective here.

Canadian Lynch was the powerhouse of the CUBC squad this year, stepping up to the Blue Boat after rowing in Goldie last year, and at UBC in Canada before that. Taylor has some great pedigree, too, having represented Taiwan in the J1x at Junior Worlds a few years ago. He’s now trialling for U23s with GB. This boat likely won’t have the kind of power that the top crews in the event will have, but CUBC Head Coach Rob Baker is becoming renowned for his ability to build crews into something more than the sum of their parts. This four already has great individual talent, but under Baker’s fantastic technical eye, it might become something really quite formidable.

Harvard University, USA

This is a mixed Harvard crew of 1, 2 and 3V athletes from the 2023 season, all of whom are very experienced and should put up a strong showing. Powerhouse Australian Tom Macky is joined by American Kenny Copeland; both of these guys have spent time in the 1V, and both have a host of Sprints medals and dual season victories to their name. They are also both attending Cambridge next year, and will no doubt be main players in the CUBC squad next year. They’re joined by Brit Henry Jones, who has a U23 silver medal to his name and a multitude of Henley appearances. Completing the lineup is Tyler Horler, an American Junior World Champion from 2021 who has just completed his first season with the Crimson. Both Jones and Horler won a great silver at the IRAs this year in the 3V.

Harvard has had a bit of a tough season, with the 1V quite dramatically underperforming considering the talent at their disposal. However, they have real strength in depth, and a wealth of individual talent and experience, so I would expect these boys to be in the mix.

Leander Club

This is a very exciting lineup that may well come in as favourites for the event. Harvard athletes Douwe de Graaf and Calvin Tarczy are joined by Oxford Blue Joshua Bowesman-Jones and Washington alumnus Mattus Holler, creating a really formidable crew that will be difficult to beat. De Graaf and Tarczy have been together since their schooldays at St Paul’s; they were both part of the peerless 2018 Triple-winning boat that took down the PE record by 11 seconds. They have been at Harvard together since, and have several U23 World titles to their name, as well as a silver medal in the pair at a senior World Cup. These guys are a class act, and while their last season at Harvard was likely disappointing, they will certainly still be a force to be reckoned with – particularly in a coxless four. As part of the GB U23 four, they lost the Visitors final last year to Mattijs Holler’s Washington crew very narrowly; they’ll be looking to put that right.

Josh Bowesman-Jones developed massively at Oxford and has now been performing well as part of the Leander squad, and was a fixture of their Ladies Plate crew until the return of James Robson and Harry Glenister. He’s still on fine form, and will be a big asset to this four. Mattus Holler, a Visitors winner from last year, will be very keen to take home another title. Watch out for these boys – with a good draw, I think their route to the final may well be clear.

Leander Club and Real Club, Espana, Mexico

This is a boat entirely formed of Northeastern University athletes. The Huskies have had a pretty great season top to bottom, with the 1V cracking into the IRA Grand Final in a really great race that will have been incredibly satisfying for the athletes and supporters. Only one athlete here is 1V standard, though – Frenchman Victor El Kholti – with other athletes coming from the 3V and Varsity 4+. Given the mixed nature of the crew, they likely won’t have the speed to hang with some of the 1V-only units entered here – but I would still expect these guys to put down some great performances.

Princeton University, USA

After quite a few years of relative underperformance considering the talent available, Princeton has really stepped on this year, medalling again in the 1V at the IRA for the first time since 2016 (the days of Tom George, Nick Mead et al). Greg Hughes has built a squad with a really solid technical foundation that really paid dividends as the season progressed, and that should serve very well in the Coxless Four.

This boat is formed of two 1V athletes and two 2V athletes. At stroke is James Quinlan, the Irishman who stroked the 1V to a Sprints silver and an IRA bronze. He’s a fantastic athlete who makes up for his shorter stature with a supremely dynamic rhythm. Behind him is Nick Taylor, an Aussie who was bow of the 1V this year and who rowed at U23s last year in the US 2- with Floyd Benedikter (also in this boat). At two is Stephane Pienaar, U23 from South Africa and son of legendary rugby player Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon’s character from the movie Invictus). Pienaar is technical and strong, and will be very solid at two. At bow is Floyd Benedikter, who had been a fixture of the Princeton 1V over the past few years, but stroked the 2V this year. He’s pretty accomplished, with some German U23 vests to his name, and will bring a ton of experience to the bow seat.

This boat is a pretty unknown quantity, but watch out for them – they certainly have some great momentum from Princeton’s impressive IRA performance.

Melbourne University, Australia

This is a talented Australian four made up of senior development athletes, all of whom raced at the Windermere Cup this year with the Aussie development program. There’s a ton of pedigree in this boat – Miller Rowe is a two-time U23 national team athlete and National Champion, Will Achermann is a two-time U23, National Champion and Henley Finalist, Charlie Batrouney is a U23 and Victorian State Champion, and Hamish Wynn-Pope is another Victorian State Champion. Wynn-Pope and Batrouney formed the fastest pair at crew selections for the Windermere Cup, and were the eighth-ranked pair at Australian senior trials.

Clearly, there’s some great talent in this boat, and these athletes will all have aspirations for the Australian senior national team. There may well be a fair amount riding on the success of this boat, then, and I would expect this to be a very well-drilled unit. Keep an eye out for the Melbourne boys – they may well be dark horses here.

Oxford Brookes University

Brookes is a club that really needs no introduction. Ridiculously successful and with unrivalled depth, it consistently produces top class units from a diverse pool of athletes that Henry Bailhache-Webb manages to mould into finely-tuned machines, perfectly replicating the Brookes style.

This Brookes four should be no exception. A classy unit formed of U23 World Champion and Prince Albert winner Jack Prior, former BU athlete Jono Cameron, George Bell and Temple winner Odhran Donaghy, they recently won Marlow to add to Brookes’ glittering tally that has seen wins in pretty much every major summer regatta. That being said, a two-second win over a strong Molesey four is good – but probably not indicative of the kind of speed necessary to win the Visitors. This Brookes four should do well, but I think it will be outpowered as the regatta goes on.

Syracuse University, USA

The Orange have become the rising stars of the US Collegiate circuit, coming from relative mediocrity just a few years ago to back-to-back-to-back IRA Grand Final appearances. In a field generally characterised by crews absolutely stacked with recognisable international talent, Syracuse has been able to build speed with a relatively modest talent pool, a testament to Head Coach Dave Reischman’s technical eye.

This four have been spotted out in Henley already, and certainly look like they mean business. Formed of four 1V athletes, including the supremely smooth Italian Nicholas Kohl, they have style in spades and will have good power to match. This is the only solely-1V four entered from the States here, and I think they’ll be real contenders for the Sunday, depending on the draw.

Prediction

I haven’t detailed every crew here, and there are some good ones – particularly Molesey and Bristol, who performed really well at Marlow and feature U23 World Champion Robbie Prosser – and, as is the nature of the Visitors, there are some unknown quantities in the form of composite boats that may well come in pretty hot – Isis and London, for example, or Radley Mariners and TSS.

That being said, I believe the top crews have been detailed here. In terms of a prediction, obviously the draw will be very influential in who ends up getting through to the latter rounds, but I think that the Saturday will likely see Leander, Melbourne, Brookes and Syracuse, with an eventual win for Leander.

Good luck to all crews.

Five Man

About The Author