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.
Total Entries: 23 (To be reduced to 16 by Qualifying Races)
Oxford Brookes University and Taurus Boat Club
The reigning champions, Brookes enter here with a certain degree of expectation on their shoulders – a deserved expectation, given the level at which this program has performed year on year. Every member of this boat has won Henley, and stroke seat Jonathan Cameron was in the Visitors’-winning crew last year. He’s joined by Temple ’23 winner Max Mills, Harvard captain Tom Horncastle – who was an U23 world champion in 2022, and won the Princess Elizabeth in 2018 with St Paul’s – and Jamie Copus, who is a seasoned Brookes oarsman that won the Ladies last year, and has represented both GB and the USA at senior lightweight level. Crucially, these guys have the best recent form. Three of them won Holland Beker before Horncastle’s arrival, and this unit just recently won at Marlow in a blistering time of 5:53.9, beating a strong Leander unit by two seconds. As ever, it appears that Brookes are the ones to beat.
Brookes also have a second crew in this event, racing just under Oxford Brookes University. They’re having to go through the qualifiers, but I would imagine that they’ll make it safely through and will be looking to make their mark on this event. They had a good race at Marlow to come home sixth in a strong A-Final, which should be ample speed to see them through qualifiers and up to the big one.
Leander Club
The Pink Palace have a strong history in this event, and their ‘A’ crew this year will be looking to add to it. Old Oxford Blue and U23 world champion Josh Bowesman-Jones – who lost in the Visitors’ final last year – is joined by Bruce Turnell, who was a U23 world champion back in 2022. Calvin Tarczy, who was part of the iconic St Paul’s 2018 Princess Elizabeth-winning eight, and who has won a host of junior and U23 world championship titles completes the line-up alongside Peter Lancashire at stroke, who is yet another U23 world champion, winner of the Ladies with Leander in 2022, and Canadian senior national team rower. This is arguably the boat with the best pedigree in the event, but they were beaten by Brookes at Marlow by two seconds. It will have been a tough loss for this experienced crew, but they will be undeterred. The question is whether they’ll be able to reverse the result at Henley.
The Leander ‘B’ crew are having to go through the qualifiers – see my qualification preview – but is also a strong entry. It seems to be the top group of British U23s: a boat made up of three Harvard varsity athletes, and one Yale varsity oarsman, Harry Geffen, who is already a U23 world champion. These provisional U23 lineups have never had much time together before the Regatta so are a little on the scratch side, but given three of these guys come from the Crimson program, one can assume they are already rowing pretty well together. I would imagine if the ‘B’ crew can safely get through qualifiers, they’ll certainly be hanging around late into the regatta.
Cambridge University and Roskilde Roklub, Denmark
This is a very interesting composite that has the potential for some serious speed. Cambridge Blue Boat athletes Luca Ferraro and Kenny Coplan are joined by two strokesiders from outside the blue doors of Goldie; in the two-seat, Sam Sullivan, recognisable for his immense blonde mane, who stroked the Penn 1V to a very successful season this year; in stroke, Bastian Secher, who has been stroking the Danish men’s four that missed out on Olympic qualification this year. With a 5:45 2K, Secher is right at the top end of this event in terms of sheer power, and brings a ton of experience to the seat. With the smoothness of the Blues bolstered by Sullivan’s dynamism, brought together under Rob Baker’s masterful eye, these guys are certainly ones to watch.
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Cal have entered two fours here that will both be eager to continue to build on the momentum that the program has picked up throughout the year. Cal were the undisputed champions of the US college circuit in 2023 across all boats, sweeping the IRA in a series of memorable victories that capped off undefeated seasons for the Golden Bears. It was Washington’s turn in 2024, and Cal were relegated to a third-placed finish in the 1V. Considering the talent lost between the ’23 and ’24 seasons, a bronze was actually a pretty great result for Cal, and it was clear that the Bears stepped on and on throughout the season after a tough loss to Washington in the Duel.
Their ‘A’ four here comes straight out of that Varsity eight, and is Cal’s best shot at capturing the Visitors’. The boat includes German U23 medalist Noah Anger, American U23 medalist Wilson Morton, and sophomore Alexander Baroni, who raced for Australia in the BM8+ last year at the U23 world championships. Their ‘B’ four are no slouches, however, with GB U23 world champion Robbie Prosser stroking, backed up by Australian U23 Harry Manton in two. All eyes will no doubt be on that ‘A’ four however, and I think they may well be dark horses here if they continue developing in the all-important post-IRA period.
Brown University, USA
Brown are coming off the back of a season that was really defined by a single moment: the final 500m of the Eastern Sprints final, where the Brown Bears charged through a hitherto-dominant Princeton boat to take the gold by just a fraction of a second, in a blisteringly fast time. It had been a great season for Brown to that point, but a Sprints title was, to many, unexpected. Unfortunately, Brown weren’t able to repeat their heroics at the IRAs a couple of weeks later; a difficult semi-final landed them in the B-Final, where they were able to pull off a convincing victory in a time that would have been very competitive in the A-Final. The disappointment of the IRAs will no doubt fuel these athletes, who all come from that first Varsity eight. There’s some real talent here; the power of Gabriel Mahler and Nathan Swidler is bolstered by the technical savvy and experience of U23 silver medallist Connor Brown at bow, and the talismanic Dutch strokeman Willem Stoop. I sense that these guys will attack this event very hard – I could see them, with a favourable draw, taking it all the way.
Algemene Rotterdamsche Studenten Roeivereniging Skadi and Delftsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Laga, Netherlands
This Skadi/Laga/Skoll composite is a promising Dutch crew with some impressive individual components; Minne Verboom and Maarten Bukman, both from Skadi, were second in the Dutch National Development League in the coxless four back in 2023; Friso Moerman was in the Skoll eight that, this year, ran the Dutch Olympic Eight close at the Heineken Roeivierkamp back in March, and Sjoerd Scheper of Laga finished eighth at the Dutch National single sculls championships in April. While I don’t think these guys will have the horsepower to challenge for the weekend, they are undoubtedly a good crew and may well prove me wrong.
Berliner Ruderclub, Germany and Real Club Espana, Mexico
This is essentially a Northeastern four racing under a variety of different clubs, as the Northeastern program has clearly decided not to officially send athletes to Henley this year. This should be a decent four; varsity athlete Brandon Mark is leading the charge as the sole 1V representative, and he’s backed up by 3V athlete and German U23, Elrond Kullman, and two 4V athletes – one of whom – in Diego Rubio – has represented Mexico at U23 level. I doubt that these guys will be able to challenge the bigger hitters in this category. There’s a good level of experience here, but the calibre of athletes in this event is just so high – I can’t see these guys getting past the first day, unless the draw is really favourable.
Roeivereeniging Studenten Vreie Universiteit Okeanos and Tilburgse Studenten Roeivereniging Vidar, Netherlands
Another strong Dutch composite from Roeivereeniging Studenten Vreie Universiteit Okeanos and Tilburgse Studenten Roeivereniging Vidar, these guys are all pretty experienced oarsmen. Pepijn Lahaije and Oeds Blom were both part of the Dutch 2023 U23 BM8+ whilst Beer Florijn has a Dutch junior world championships vest, and Bas Berend was part of Skadi’s elite coxed four this year. These are strong guys and have a bit of racing under their belts together already. At the Holland Beker, they were the fastest Dutch coxless four, coming away fourth in the four behind two Brookes fours, and a German development crew. Clearly they don’t have the speed to match Brookes – they were a good nine seconds behind the top British boat – but they should be a solid, middle-of-the-pack entry, poised to cause some potential upsets.
Riverside Boat Club, USA
A strong American club entry, Riverside enter with a four full of domestic and international experience. At the helm of the project is Brendon Stoner, who graduated from Dartmouth back in 2014 after representing the USA at U23s in 2013, and has subsequently thrown himself wholeheartedly into the American club rowing scene, racing consistently at the Head of the Charles and making some solid attempts at National Selection Regattas. He also has the Concept2 American record for the marathon, half-marathon and 10K for 30-39 – no mean feat. He’s joined by William Drescher, who has been a bit of a single scull specialist for the past few years, finishing third in the club single at the Head of the Charles in 2022 before placing 14th in the championship single at last year’s Head of the Charles. There are also two lightweight senior internationals on board: Ashton Knight and Mats Terwiesch, both of whom rowed in the lightweight quad for the USA at the 2022 world championships. This looks like a pretty interesting unit, and with the international racing experience bookending the boat, I think they may well take some of the opposition by surprise.
Other clubs
There are a few clubs that will be going through the qualifiers on Friday that might have a real impact on the event providing they make it through. The Henley Rowing Club and Drammen Roklubb, Norway entry is particularly interesting – a boat full of very strong Yale oarsmen that will have a point to prove after a difficult season for the Bulldogs. Hapoel Tel Aviv Marine Club and Tel Aviv Rowing Club, Israel is another strong entry with a good deal of US-based talent. Thames Rowing Club and Molesey Rowing Club really should never be discounted, with the Thames guys bolstered by previous Henley winners, whilst the Molesey crew is yet another American university composite – this time formed of athletes from Boston University and Brown. Finally, it’s hard to ignore the pedigree of the Dark Blues; Oxford have two boats here, one of which is a composite with Nottingham & Union Boat Club, and both of which contain Blues and Isis rowers. Results haven’t been favourable so far, but there’s a ton of experience in both of those entries.
Prediction
This should be a really fascinating competition. The clear frontrunners here are Brookes/Taurus and Leander, and the stage looks to be set for another barnstormer of a final. But there are a number of crews that could threaten that matchup; I think California, Brown and Cambridge/Roskilde all have a realistic shot at making that final. I’m going to go with the safe option and call out Brookes/Taurus for the win – but I have a feeling that we might be in for an upset.
Good luck to all crews.
Five Man
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