Holders: St Catherine’s School, Australia
Entries: 31
“When I see you are both straight and ready I will start you like this: attention… GO“
With just over a week until we hear this announcement for the first time this year, Henley Royal Regatta is back in full force for its 2023 rendition. The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy has 31 entries to be cut down to a mere 20 after a set of qualifying races, dashing the hopes of some Henley campaigns before the Regatta even begins. Featuring entries from across the globe, the PP is shaping up to be a tight draw this year!
Headington School
Can the girls in blue make it two out of three? Back in the days (2021) before the PP was officially baptised, Headington were the first crew ever to take home the trophy. Two years later they’ve come blazing through the British Rowing circuit, taking win after win from Women’s Head to National School’s Regatta, and most recently Henley Women’s Regatta. It looks like international competition will be their biggest threat, with a record number of international entries at HRR ’23.
St Catherine’s School, Australia
Not to be confused with last year’s winners (who hail from the state of Victoria), this New South Wales outfit were unbeaten state champions throughout the 22-23 season and won the U19 Girl’s Eight at the Australian Rowing Championships. When pitted against Melbourne Girl’s Grammar School at the same event, St Cat’s ended up with a silver and will be hoping to overturn that deficit on the Henley straights.
Melbourne Girl’s Grammar School, Australia
The second, but by no means less competitive, crew from down under, if you’re looking out for a crew with an impressive trajectory of improvement, Melbourne are the ones to turn to. For the most part of their season they were stuck with second and third laces, e.g. Melbourne Head (third), Victoria State Champs (third), Head of the Schoolgirl’s Regatta (second). Turning to arguably the most important (and most recent) regatta of the year, silver and bronze turned to gold at the Australian Rowing Championships. If we draw a line of best fit, I’m sure it would extrapolate to another huge success at Henley Royal Regatta.
Winter Park Crew, USA
Last year’s runner’s up return for another crack at Henley glory. Can the five returning members of the ’22 edition do what they couldn’t last year and finish off the job? Looking nationally, they seem to be in an extremely good position, with win after win at multiple state events and at the America Youth Cup and Scholastic Rowing Association of America Regatta. They’ve been in a holding pattern for the past few weeks, opting not to race at the USRowing Youth Nationals and instead train on for Henley Royal Regatta. They were asked to go through qualifiers last year before winding up in the final of the whole event. No such error on the part of the Stewards’ in 2023.
Greenwich Crew, USA
Another exceptionally strong entry from across the pond, Greenwich Crew were silver medalists at the USRowing Youth National Championships just over a week ago and come into Henley Royal Regatta with one thing in mind – stamping their name on the trophy. They’ve had a stellar season, finishing second at the Head of the Charles in Youth Women’s Eights and a second place at Mercer Sprints. Phoebe Wise and Frances McKenzie, their six-seat and cox, are junior world champions and will be off to the University of Texas and Princeton University respectively in the fall. Expect a highly competitive showing from these girls.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley pushed Headington all the way in the final of the Peabody Cup on Sunday afternoon, showing a dramatic increase in speed since the National Schools’ Regatta. Their dispatch of Surbiton High School in the semi-final, who beat them a few weeks ago, will have emboldened their cause so expect Henley to pick up a little more speed in the coming days. I’m not sure it will be enough to overturn Headington and the wealth of talent we have from overseas but a Friday berth would be good place to kick on from.
Deerfield Academy, USA
Seventh in the ‘A’ final of Women’s Youth Eights at the USRowing Youth National Championships, Deerfield have had a splendid season on both the men’s and women’s side. They won both Varsity events at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association Regatta and have made the transition from coxed four to eight look remarkably easy (until this year, their program focused on smaller boats). If they can make the quarter-finals, the luck of the draw may help push them on.
Predicitions
It’ll be interesting to see how the organisers seed the various national leaders (Headington, Winter Park, Melbourne, Greenwich) across the draw. If all things are well, these four would be my bets for the Saturday of racing and we should be in for some sensational semi-final action. Greenwich posted a 6:30 last weekend which none of the others have come close to matching. It’s a fools errand trying to compare times across variable conditions, courses and race dynamics but we should be in for a cracking rundown in the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy.
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