Henley Women’s Regatta is almost upon us. A massive, multi-day event on the world-famous Henley course, attracting a host of top domestic and international talent, it’s always a thrilling weekend of racing, and this year should be no exception.
The George Innes Cup for Championship Singles is always a hotly contested event, and this year features a wide range of entries from across the world, many of whom have significant pedigree in the scull. As ever, I’ll do detailed previews of the entries that I feel will likely be the top contenders, before giving a prediction for a potential top three.
Leander Club (Lucy Stratton)
A fantastically experienced athlete, Stratton has come through a variety of programs – King’s Worcester, Loughborough University and UCLA – before finally arriving at Leander. She was one of the top athletes at UCLA and has been performing well at Leander, rowing largely in their 2nd VIII this season. She’s had a number of good performances at GB Trials across the past few years in the single, so she’s no stranger to the boat class. In a lesser field, Stratton would come in as a clear frontrunner, but there’s no much talent and depth on show here that I can only really say that she should certainly be in the mix.
Queens University Belfast, Ireland (Molly Curry)
Undoubtedly one of this event’s front runners, Curry is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in sculling and will absolutely be aiming for the outright win here. She’s been impressive in the scull since her junior days, memorably taking the win in the Championship Girls Single back in 2019 in a course record. She’s represented Ireland at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2018, the Junior World Championships in 2019, and the Junior European Championships in 2020, and has rowed for GB in the BW4X at the U23 World Championships in 2023. She’s performed well this season in the single, taking the second U23 spot in the February GBRT Trials and 8th overall. She’s a great sculler, and I don’t think many others in this field will be able to match her speed.
San Diego RC, USA (Mary Kaleta)
Kaleta is an athlete who has been around the block a few times. A massively experienced oarswoman, she’s been in the game since 2004, rowed at Marquette University for four years, and has been honing her craft in the single since 2016 at a variety of clubs – most recently San Diego RC. She won the Club Single at the Head of the Charles in 2022, and made the step up to the Championship category in 2023, coming home 18th. She raced in the USRowing Winter Speed Order back in February and is clearly determined to try and make the step up to elite sculling. It’s an admirable ambition, and I think Kaleta is well-placed for a good result here.
Waikato Rowing Club, New Zealand (Sophie Egnot-Johnson)
A strong Kiwi entry, Egnot-Johnson will likely be one of the favourites for this event. She’s New Zealand’s W1X entry for the World University Rowing Championships this year, held in July in Rotterdam, and has been performing well in the scull all season, taking 3rd in the Premier Single at the North Island Rowing Championships back in January, and winning the Senior Single at the New Zealand Rowing Championships in February. She’s got a lot of potential in this boat class, and she certainly has a good shot at the HWR title here.
Tideway Scullers School (Tess Peake)
Future Yale Bulldog Peake has entered here with great pedigree despite being one of the younger oarswomen in the field. She’s been part of top TSS crews all season, coming away with some strong results, and was in the GB Junior Women’s Eight at the Junior World Rowing Championships last year, coming away with a historic gold medal. She’s no stranger to the single scull, and will no doubt be a strong competitor here. She was a little off the pace at the recent Metropolitan Regatta, finishing halfway down the B Final on Saturday, but I can’t help but feel that there’s more speed to come from Peake.
Undine Barge Club, USA (Elaine Tierney)
Another fantastic international competitor, Tierney is a senior international and is absolutely one of the hot favourites to take home the HWR title. A former Temple University oarswoman, Tierney has been rowing at the senior level for the USA for the past couple of years, racing in the lightweight pair- at both the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships. She’s a national champion in the USA and will draw on a vast amount of experience as she faces the challenge of the single scull. Certainly one to watch.
Boston University Rowing Club, USA (Savanna Jacovini)
Another very talented American rower, Jacovini makes the trip over from Boston to throw down the gauntlet. Jacovini races as a lightweight in the States and has been part of a pretty successful lightweight Boston University squad for the past couple of years. She was selected to race in the LW4X at the U23 World Rowing Championships back in 2022, suggesting good calibre as a sculler, too (she ended up not racing due to injury). I’m not sure Jacovini will have the speed to challenge for the overall victory, here, but she certainly adds to the incredible depth that this event offers this year.
A.U.S.R. Orca, Netherlands (Vera Versteegh)
Versteegh enters here alongside fellow A.U.S.R. Orca rower and doubles partner Trijntje van der Pijl, and should have some good speed to show. Orca won the Varsity in the Women’s Four this year, and both Versteegh and van der Pijl were part of that crew. It’s an incredible, historic event – think the Boat Race but with more swimming afterwards – and Versteegh and van der Pijl’s victory was historic, ending a 20-year drought for Orca. It’s difficult to gauge Versteegh’s level in the single, but her pedigree is clear.
A.U.S.R. Orca, Netherlands (Trijntje van der Pijl)
Similar to her Orca teammate, van der Pijl is clearly a talented sweep oarswoman and should have no real issue being able to generate speed in the single scull. She does have sculling pedigree, racing in the W4X in the European Universities Rowing Championships in 2022, and this year at Holland Beker. Van der Pijl may well be the faster sculler out of the Orca double – there will doubtless be some rivalry between the pair.
Skibbereen RC, Ireland (Aisling Hayes)
Hayes is a very experienced Irish athlete and will be a formidable presence in this year’s competition. Most notably, Hayes won at Henley Royal with Brookes in the first iteration of the Island Challenge Cup back in 2021, making her one of the few Henley winners in this field. This year, she’s already had some great showings in the single, winning the Championship single at the Metropolitan Regatta on the Saturday, ahead of a number of the competitors in this draw. She’s clearly got some great speed in the scull, and will no doubt be one to watch this weekend.
Leander Club (Katie-Anne Birch)
Leander’s ‘A’ entry, Birch, is yet another experienced sculler of great pedigree. She was part of the GB Start Programme and has been sculling at a high level for several years; she was a finalist at HWR in the double in 2022 and was a quarter-finalist at HRR in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup for Women’s Quad back in 2021. A powerful athlete, Birch will be eager to put out some dominating performances on her home course.
Nottingham RC (Jen Titterington)
Titterington has had a very good season thus far, and has a number of recent regattas under her belt, racing twice at the Metropolitan Regatta and Wallingford Regatta before that. At the Met, she was 3rd on the Saturday and 4th on the Sunday – both times behind Skibbereen’s Hayes, but in no way off the pace. At Wallingford, Titterington secured a narrow 2nd place finish. Her racing experience thus far will serve her very well in this field, and she may well be able to cause some upsets.
Thames Rowing Club (Abby Pape)
Pape has been stepping on well over the past few years, coming out of a strong Exeter University women’s programme to join Thames RC, where she was part of the incredibly strong eight that won the Wargrave Challenge Cup at Henley Royal last year. Her move to the single scull for HWR is bold, but I think she should be able to put up a strong showing here. She’s a powerful athlete with great race experience – including vital Henley-winning experience – and may well be a dark horse.
Prediction
As this preview has hopefully made clear, there is a ton of talent in this field, and racing should be absolutely electric. It’s pretty hard to pin down a potential top three here, given the fact that so few of these athletes have directly raced each other. However, I do think that Molly Curry is probably the frontrunner, given her recent pedigree in this boat class. I think she may well be joined by Elaine Tierney in the final, but one should never discount Sophie Egnot-Johnson, who I think has shown some cracking speed this year.
Whatever happens, it should be an enthralling contest.
Good luck to all crews.
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