We have reached the summit. As a rowing community, there are few weeks in the calendar that we collectively look forward to more than Henley Royal Regatta. The unique match-racing style format, the frivolity and festival unfolding on the banks alongside a pomp and circumstance that transports the punter back through the pages of time itself. All of this is secondary though to the curvature of competition that angles upwards as the week unfolds. From heats on the Tuesday to finals on the Sunday, all roads lead to the red box. JRN will be with you every step of the way to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Regatta available anywhere in the world – and we start with our exclusive set of event previews. Roll on the racing.
Entries: 17 (to be reduced to 12 by Qualifying races)
Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Nereus, Netherlands
ASR Nereus are bringing a vast fleet over to Henley. The always-exciting Dutch outfit will boat eight crews at this year’s Regatta, including four across the student events. Their offering in the Prince Albert is an intriguing one, albeit not their strongest entry across their armada of boats. The quartet have performed well domestically, racing to a victory in third division eights at the Heineken Roeivierkamp. They’re a crew who are only just in their second season of rowing and have started to prioritise this boat after Ghent Regatta. That hasn’t stopped them from winning coxed fours at ARB Bosbaan Wedstrijden as well as placing sixth in coxless fours at the Dutch National Championships.
Cambridge University
Coached by Bill Lucas, this Light Blue crew brings a decent amount of Boat Race experience to the dance. Stroked by Cameron Mackenzie, who won with Goldie this year and last, it’s fantastic to see Cambridge building a pattern of sending crews to Henley Royal. Mackenzie is backed up by Thomas Heppell, who’s won multiple Lightweight Boat Races for Cambridge alongside Garret Overholser and William Wauchope, who were both members of the Cambridge crew that came 25th at the Head of the River race earlier this year. As a four, they’ve raced at the Metropolitan Regatta, where they finished second in open coxed fours, just under three seconds back on the University of London.
Canford School
While it’s a shame to see Canford only able to put forward one crew at this year’s Regatta, it’s always exciting to see some schoolboys try and take university scalps. They’re up against it though as the Prince Albert has been trimmed from 16 to 12 this year following an incredibly low number of entries. These plucky teenagers will look to cause some upsets nonetheless. Canford were second at Marlow Regatta in junior coxed fours in a time that would have seen them beat the University of East Anglia over in the open event. Over the rest of the year, they’ve been performing admirably on the domestic scene including a win at Hampton Head which was then backed up by a bronze medal in championship coxed fours at the National Schools’ Regatta. Come the Metropolitan Regatta, they were eighth in academic coxed fours.
Cornell University, U.S.A.
It’s great to once again welcome back Big Red to the iconic Henley stretch. While there’s not much to go on for this crew, Henry Koontz, Henry McCarthy and their cox, Aden Walsey, all raced in Cornell’s second eight during the 2022/23 season that saw them win bronze as a crew at Eastern Sprints. This year, Koontz and McCarthy were joined by Luke Zaslow and raced together at the IRAs, coming away with a fourth-placed finish. The Henley quartet sees one change with freshman Tomas Foxley also making the trip over the pond.
Edinburgh University ‘A’ & ‘B’
Winners of this event in 2016, Edinburgh have opted to put their top athletes into the Prince Albert once more. Edinburgh kicked off their regatta season with a fourth-placed finish at BUCS Regatta in championship coxed fours before following that up with 13th overall on the Saturday and second in championship coxed fours on the Sunday of the Metropolitan Regatta. It was then on to the Scottish Championships, where they won comfortable. Rounding out their domestic season, they finished fifth overall at Marlow Regatta, six seconds behind the University of London.
Harvard University, U.S.A.
The Harvard lightweights are travelling to Henley en-masse this year. While the Temple features their all-conquering Varsity eight, the Crimson offering in the Prince Albert is half of the second eight that finished second at Eastern Sprints before going on to win at the IRAs. Make no mistake, Harvard’s lightweights are quick this year and word on the street is that they were known to beat the heavyweight third eight in practice on the Charles. Harvard are three-time finalists and twice winners of the PA, their most recent triumph coming in 2019.
Imperial College London
2024 is the 20th anniversary of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, which means it’s also two decades since Imperial first won in this event. Since then, they’ve won in 2006, 2013, and 2018, meaning they hold more wins than any other university. In 2024, Imperial are unlikely to add to this list of victories. At Marlow, they could only manage a C-Final performance, posting a time considerably slower than the university crews in the A-Final.
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus raced earlier in the season at BUCS Regatta and placed sixth in the D-Final back in May. This quartet comes from their first eight that finished 117th at the Head of the River Race and includes next season’s captain, Daniel Wilkes.
King’s College, London
For KCL, qualifying will be a hard ask. The crew placed 162nd overall, albeit 20 places ahead of their starting position, at the Head of the River Race in March. At Marlow Regatta, they raced university coxed fours and placed fourth, some 15 seconds back on East Anglia and 26 seconds back on the winners, University of London’s PA ‘B’ crew.
La Salle University, U.S.A.
The Explorers have had a promising season under the stewardship of Ivo Krakic, who came into the post at the beginning of this season and has already had a profound impact on the Philadelphia-based programme. La Salle are putting their five best athletes into the Prince Albert after racking up some strong performances in the Varsity eight all season. In the duel season, the Explorers were winners of the Knecht Cup and the Kerr Cup before placing second at the Dad Vail Regatta behind rivals Drexel. La Salle then made the trip to the big dance and finished 17th in the Varsity eight at the IRAs, a result which saw them finish last in the third final. While unlikely to get a seed, La Salle should be looking to tally up a couple of wins on the hallowed waters of Henley.
New College, Oxford
New College are the first of two college crews racing and both will go head-to-head at qualifiers. New College has spent a considerable proportion of the season in eights before shifting into the smaller boat for qualifiers. Raphaël Maurin finished 217th at the Head of the River Race while Ruslan Ramsay and James Danford were 292nd. At Oxford Summer Eights, this crew held its starting position of 35th.
Oxford Brookes University ‘A’ & ‘B’
Time to find a thesaurus to explore some new metaphors which adequately describe the Brookes battleships. Brookes are hoping to make it three wins in a row in the Prince Albert and there is very little evidence to suggest this won’t happen. All one must do is cast their eyes at the results from Marlow Regatta. Having placed first and second in the time trial, Brookes went on to finish first and second in the A-Final of championship coxed fours, with the ‘A’ crew seven seconds up on the University of London. There is a scenario where it’s an all-Brookes final, which is no surprise given their ‘A’ boat is carrying multiple championship coxed and coxless four medals at BUCS Regatta whilst the ‘B’ Boat is a mix of intermediate and championship medalists.
University of East Anglia
It’s great to see East Anglia putting a crew together for qualifiers, although with only four crews progressing to side-by-side racing, UEA have a bit of a mountain to climb. All of the crew comes from their first eight this season, which placed 15th and 14th in intermediate eights and fours respectively at BUCS Head before finishing 20th overall at BUCS Regatta in the eight. With a couple of freshers on board, UEA are hoping qualification will be a pivotal springboard in the next stage of the club’s performance development. UEA raced twice at Marlow; in university fours, they were third behind the PA ‘B’ crews from London and Edinburgh and eight seconds back on Imperial in the C-Final of Tier 2 fours later in the afternoon.
University of London ‘A’ & ‘B’
The University of London have assembled its strongest quartet for this ‘A’ crew and could be the only boat capable of preventing a Brookes threepeat. Having won over in Ghent and domestically at the Metropolitan Regatta, UL were the closest challengers to Brookes at Marlow Regatta. Despite being clear water back on their top boat, the Chiswick-based club were a second or so back on the Brookes ‘B’ boat. UL ‘B” comfortably topped the rankings at Marlow in the university fours event and if you throw into the mix that they finished second in academic coxed fours at the Metropolitan Regatta, then this crew could be one of the four that manage to make it through qualifiers.
Prediction
Brookes are all set to win their third consecutive title in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. Any hope of stopping them will likely come from the University of London but I’m intrigued to see how Harvard and La Salle shape up against the best that Britain has to offer in this event.
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