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: 58 (To be reduced to 32 by Qualifying Races)
Barcelona Club de Rem, Spain
Barcelona are providing an intriguing combination. They’re stroked by 41-year-old Boris Batine, who is a former Cambridge Lightweight and bronze medalist in championship eights at the National Schools’ Regatta. Along with the rest of the crew, they’ve picked up plenty of podiums including wins in A & B categories at the World Masters Regatta, a win at the Heineken in Master’s Eights, fourth at the Spanish championships and winners of Band 2 Eights at Bedford Regatta.
Calgary Rowing Club, Canada
This Canadian combination from Calgary Rowing Club is quite an exciting one. They travel to Henley Royal Regatta as the winners of coxless fours at last year’s Canadian Henley and Carter Cranmer-Smith and Albert Harkema also won a silver medal in the pair. Harkema will sit in the bow seat and has a very handy 6:11 2k to help get his crew down the course.
City of Bristol Rowing Club
This is the second-ranked boat from City of Bristol, who continue to be one of the strongest provisional clubs on the domestic scene here in the U.K. After running into some mechanical issues on the Saturday, the crew left the Metropolitan Regatta as the sixth and seventh fastest club crews across the weekend. Fast forward to Marlow Regatta and Bristol slipped a little in the club rankings, now sitting behind the likes of Tyne ARC and London.
City of Cambridge Rowing Club
For the City of Cambridge, this has been the priority boat throughout the season. They’ve taken some time to choose whether or not to go for the Wyfold or the Britannia, but after after placing 22nd in the time trial at the Metropolitan Regatta, they’ve switched back to the Wyfold for this Henley campaign. The crew has a plethora of Henley experience with James O’Dell set to complete his fourth campaign in a row whilst Ed Gardiner was a finalist with Durham in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. Peter Stevens has also raced the Britannia Challenge Cup back in 2021. Second in the C-Final and placing lower than Bristol suggests this crew still has plenty of speed to find in the final run-up but should be looking to get through a round or two with a favourable draw.
Deutscher Ruder-Club von 1884 e.V. Hannover, Germany
The Germans from Deutscher Ruder-Club von 1884 e.V. Hannover will be familiar to Henley audiences, having come over on several occasions in recent years. Last year, they lost to Leander on the Friday of the Thames club, a crew that Tom-Otis Brandes was a member of. Cornelius Dietrich has also maid the trip west before, racing the Britannia Challenge Cup on three separate occasions in 2019, 2021 and 2022. This year, they’ve teamed up with the likes of Thorag Segger, German champion in the U23 lightweight eight and lightweight four. As a combination, they have raced across Germany, making the podium in Münster and racing well at the International Ratzeburger Regatta.
Grasshopper Club Zurich, Switzerland
Welcome back to the 2016 champions. Sadly, the Swiss championships were cancelled this year due to bad weather but it’s safe to say this crew would have been a force to be reckoned with. This young all-star boat has the making of a highly competitive outfit with stroke Cédric Pahud racing at both the 2021 Coupe de la Jeunesse and the 2023 European junior championships. He’s joined by fellow Coupe athlete Andris Künzler as well as Moritz Reihs and Theodor Töpfer, who have both raced well at the German championships. This crew have a cabinet full of national championship medals and should be seen as a crew who can go deep in the competition.
Haldens Roklub, Norway
An experienced crew, the Norwegians from Haldens Roklub have been racing well since May. Since then, they’ve picked up two wins and two second places in the national cup to go along with plenty of Norwegian championship medals they’ve won since 2018. Most recently though, Thomas Furuvarp has tried his hand at Beach Sprints, winning last year’s national championships.
Lea Rowing Club A
Lea should count themselves lucky they’ve managed to bag a prequalification spot. Marlow was an underwhelming outing for this combination which saw them place behind the likes of St Andrew, Hereford, Vesta, Kingston ‘B’ and Auriel Kensington, all of whom have been made to run the gauntlet of qualifiers this weekend. In 2021, Lea were losing finalists in this event but it’s highly unlikely this crew will be able to replicate those highs from a few years ago.
London Rowing Club A
I really hope London turn up with at least a couple of drums to bang – they deserve a proper band, not just a little snare drum. All joking aside, London have been so much fun to watch this year and they’re right back to the top of club rowing and while this Wyfold boat isn’t their top boat at the regatta, it’s more than capable of putting a bit of a run together and winning a couple of rounds. Two A-Final appearances at the Metropolitan Regatta were followed up by a fourth-placed finish at Poplar and, most recently, sixth in the B-Final at Marlow. They’ll have been disappointed by Marlow but so much can change in ten days.
Marlow Rowing Club A
Welcome to the party, Marlow. This four are peaking at just the right time and have catapulted themselves pretty much into the driving seat for the Wyfold Challenge Cup. Third place at Marlow Regatta, behind only Brookes and Leander, currently means they are the domestic crew to beat. Yes, Thames were probably having an off day but nonetheless Marlow are seriously quick. This Marlow Regatta speed isn’t just a flash in the pan. On Sunday at the Metropolitan Regatta, Marlow won championship and club coxless fours and were the fastest Wyfold eligible crew in challenge coxless fours at Wallingford. Throw into the mix the fact that their eight was sixth at Quintin Head and 18th overall at the Head of the River and you’re looking at a crew who could win the whole thing. Oh, and the fact that Matt Brigham is onboard, who beat Mahe Drysdale on the Henley stretch, has to count for something.
Mercantile Rowing Club, Australia
Hailing from the state of Victoria this Mercantile unit haven’t raced together a huge amount due to injury in the boat. That would explain the decision to come and race at Marlow Regatta and get some much-needed time together under their belt. It’s safe to say the Aussies will have left Marlow deflated or perhaps this was the proverbial foot up the backside they needed to get themselves back on track, having placed seventh in the B-Final. In various different fragments these athletes have earned medals on both a state and national level – the only thing missing is time together in this combination.
Molesey Boat Club
In the last 10 years, Molesey have won this event twice, back in 2015 and 2018. This year, their offering to the Henley gods is a good one. Three of this crew made the A-Final at Ghent Regatta and they’ve also got Sam Bodkin onboard, who won the Fawley Challenge Cup with the Windsor Boys’ School. Second in the B-Final at Marlow suggests this crew should be looking to get at least two wins under their belt in this campaign.
Neusser Ruderverein e.V., Germany
Last year, this Neusser Ruderverein outfit reached the third round of the Wyfold and this year they’re back for more. Simeon Falger was in last year’s Wyfold crew and he returns 12 months later. The 2024 Henley campaign sees Falger link up with Benjamin Nelles and Johannes Neubauer, who competed together in the lightweight pair at the 2021 U23 world championships. Arguably, this is the strongest of the German crews.
Ruder-Club Allemannia von 1866 e.V., Hamburg, Germany
It’s brilliant to have so many strong German crews making the trip over and Ruder-Club Allemannia von 1866 e.V., Hamburg are another example of this. They have a young stroke in the shape of Moriz Grauert who raced in the German eight at the junior world championships two years ago. Grauert is joined by the likes of Teve Knüppel who, in the 2019/20 season, stroked the Cal Berkley freshman eight.
Seeclub Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich have raced well this season with third and fifth-placed finishes respectively at National Ruderregatta Lauerz and National Ruderregatta Cham. Zurich also placed fourth at Sarnen Regatta and based on these results, it’s unlikely they will be as quick as Grasshopper.
Sydney Rowing Club, Australia
It’s fantastic to once again welcome Sydney Rowing Club back to Henley Royal Regatta. Any crew they bring is normally a challenge to race against and I expect this quartet to be no different. It’s been five years since Sydney won the Wyfold and this year they bring a crew who have all won different medals at the Australian championships, including Torun Olsson, Macarthur Bucknell and Isaac Thurnham who all won the club eight and coxless fours. Thurman is making his homecoming, having won championship pairs at the National Schools’ Regatta with Emmanuel School in 2023.
Thames Rowing Club ‘A’ & ‘B’
For Thames, the Wyfold ‘A’ is their third priority boat on the club event side of things. These athletes were second on the Sunday of the Metropolitan Regatta in open coxless fours and at Marlow they reached the A-Final and were the second quickest Wyfold eligible crew, just three seconds back on Marlow Rowing Club. The road to a sweep of the club events is shrouded in darkness for Thames this year but the club should be expecting big things from this year’s Wyfold outfit, who will be targeting a berth on finals day after a tough week of racing. Their ‘B’ crew aren’t so far behind and will be eying up progression through a few rounds of the Wyfold. Performances at the Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas prove that this crew can still put many Wyfold boats to the sword.
The Tideway Scullers School
You have to go back to 1967 to find the last time Tideway Scullers won the Wyfold Challenge Cup. More recently, they encountered some brutal luck which saw them finish as runners up in 2014, 2015 and 2017. This year’s entry comes from their eight that placed 43rd at the Head of the River race and come the summer racing, they’ve racked up fourth and seventh-placed finishes in the C and B finals respectively at the Metropolitan Regatta in the four. Wallingford saw them place third in the final of club coxless fours but against stiff competition at Marlow, TSS could only manage a win in the C-Final, a little way behind the top domestic Wyfold entries.
Tyne Amateur Rowing Club
Tyne were one of those B-Final crews who placed higher than Tideway Scullers at Marlow Regatta. After two wins in championship and open coxless fours at Nottingham City Regatta, the Metropolitan Regatta produced another couple of solid results in the B-Final on both Saturday and Sunday. They left Dorney that weekend as the fourth then fifth quickest club crew. This is the best crew Tyne can put together and if Henley Regattas of years gone by are anything to go off, this Tyne crew should treat us to some absolute corkers between the booms on their way to at least a couple of wins.
Upper Thames Rowing Club
Another club opting to put their top athletes into the Wyfold Challenge Cup, Upper Thames are no slouches this season. Their crew that came 21st at the Head of the River Race has been split between this Wyfold crew and their Britannia Challenge Cup entry – could we see a repeat of their heroic double win in 2014? Probably not, but I do expect this Wyfold crew to be pushing for the semi-finals, especially as they were A-Finalists at Marlow Regatta and reached A-Finals at both the Metropolitan and Wallingford Regattas, winning club coxless fours at the former.
Prediction
If the draw allows for it, I think we’ll have Thames ‘A’, Marlow, Grasshopper, Molesey, Upper Thames, Sydney and Neusser Ruderverein shooting it out for a place in the semi-finals. Yes, I know seven crews don’t go into four places. Domestically I expect a dogfight between Thames and Marlow but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Swiss spoiled the party.
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