The Visitors’ Challenge Cup is one of the more exciting events year on year, with little dependant on who enters in a given year. Looking at this year’s entries, it’s the usual suspects once again, but the narrative might be different.
Oxford Brookes
Initially Brookes had the second half of their Grand eight in this event, but as another club (who I won’t name, although you can probably guess) pointed out, it doesn’t make sense to have ‘open’ level athletes doubling up into an ‘intermediate’ level event as well. So the Brookes crew we will see contest the Visitors’ is half of the top crew competing in the Ladies’ Plate. Some of these athletes were part of the Project Paris squad which competed at World Cup III earlier this season, an indication of the depth at Brookes given the Ladies’ group is the second group this year to those competing in the Grand and Stewards’.
Although this crew will have an easier draw thanks to the seeding, there is no getting away from the fact that they will have to race in this boat on Friday and then race twice per day over the weekend. It’s a bold move by Brookes to double up at HRR this year, and it could be their undoing if the racing is close.
Laga & Groningen, Netherlands
There is a strong contingent of Dutch crews across the sweep events at this year’s Henley, and in the Visitors’ it’s no exception. The bowman, Olav Molenaar, won the Prince of Wales in 2018 and along with Ties Talsma in the three-seat were runners-up in the Ladies Plate to Oxford Brookes in 2019 with their Dutch U23 crew that went on to win bronze at the U23 World Championships.
As a foursome, this crew has competed at World Cup III this year, finishing fourth and two seconds behind the top GB crew and well clear of GBR2. They also won the Dutch National Championships so are clearly on top form this season and ones to watch in the latter stages of the Regatta.
Oxford
Three of this four were in the Great Britain crew which took gold in the eight at the 2021 U23 World Championships. For Henley, Joshua Bowesman-Jones, Tobias Schroder and Felix Drinkall are joined by Canadian National Team athlete Martin Barakso, in what is essentially the top four athletes from this year’s Blue Boat. Seeing the Dark Blues attend HRR at all is an indication of their confidence in this crew and it will be exciting to see what they can do in this competition.
Leander
This is Leander’s second sweep boat to the four in the Stewards’, and they will be out for blood. James Stanhope sits in bow after taking much of the season out for injury, but as a previous winner in this event his experience will count. Dan Graham and Iwan Hadfield are fresh from success in the four at the U23 World Championships and rounding out the crew is James Vogel who has moved into this crew from the top four, having made way for Harry Glenister. This crew is an exciting blend of youth and experience, although an unfamiliar position for James Stanhope, the bow seat will allow him to drive on the crew and use that wealth of Henley experience to get the most out of his crew mates.
The four crews mentioned above will most likely be those who make it to the weekend. My prediction is that the Dutch and Brookes will contest the final with the Dutch taking the win in a fantastic race to the line.
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