With the first day of racing done for all of the crews in the Temple Challenge Cup, and hopefully, any cobwebs dusted off, the second day of Henley Royal Regatta 2022 promised some exciting races with greater uncertainty as to which crews would come out on top. This uncertainty leaves much less room for error and crews will find themselves fighting it right down to the line to get through to Thursday’s racing.
Reviews
Durham University ‘A’ VS A.S.R. Nereus, NED
Given the similarities in the times posted by these crews and the large margins by which they each won their Tuesday race, this was bound to be a fierce match-up. Durham got the jump on the Dutch crew off the start and held about a half-length lead by the Fawley. The Nereus crew come from a club with a huge pedigree and history of great results, and they tried to draw on this when they began to up their rate and put in a push by the hole in the wall, however, Durham responded, maintaining a long, strong, and tidy rhythm to hold onto their lead, crossing the line in style with a margin of ¾ of a length in a quick time of 6:33.
Imperial College London VS Oxford Brookes University ‘B’
After a brush with the booms on the way to the start which broke the backstay of the bow seat, Imperial maintained composure and got the better start of the two crews. They managed to stretch out this lead to ¾ length until Remenham farm when the Brookes ‘B’ crew put in a push to row through them. However, Imperial did not back off and kept the pressure on the Brookes crew all the way to the finish, with Brookes only winning by a margin of 2/3 of a length.
Yale University ‘A’, USA VS University of Washington, USA
A North American matchup, the lightweights VS the heavies. In their bid to take the Temple Challenge cup back across the pond against international competition, these crews first had to fight for a victory against domestic rivals. With the advantage in crew weight, Washington managed to take about two seats on Yale by the end of the island and maintaining a long stroke, edged this out to about ¾ of a length by the barrier. Through the middle of the course, both crews continued to row well, keeping loose whilst putting down all the power they could with the hope of winning. Despite being down, Yale did not let up and by the hole in the wall were achieving a slightly punchier rhythm which helped them to reduce the huskies lead to only a ½ a length.
Previews
Oxford Brookes University ‘B’ VS Durham University ‘A’
On paper, this looks to be an incredibly tight race. The times posted by both crews to the barrier, Fawley and finish in today’s races differ by no more than two seconds, with the Durham crew having the slight edge in speed over Brookes. Meanwhile, the decision by Brookes to forego Metropolitan Amateur Regatta and Durham doing the same for Marlow Regatta means this will be the first time the crews face up since the BUCS regatta, where Brookes claimed silver ahead of Durham in the intermediate eights event. The palatinate army will be determined to overturn this result on the famous Henley stretch. Both crews have demonstrated mature and tidy rowing across the previous two races, despite some far from ideal conditions, and they will need to maintain this slick style and hold their cool if they want to come out on top.
Oxford Brookes University ‘A’ VS University of London ‘A’
A classic match-up of two of the biggest names on the UK university rowing scene. Brookes come into this event as domestic favourites, closely followed by the tideway-based crew, so I do not doubt that this crew will be incredibly close, and whoever manages to take the lead will not be able to let off the gas at any stage of the race. Whichever way the result swings will be an important factor in who gets their hands on the Temple Challenge Cup come Sunday, as crews would have hoped for some slightly easier racing so early on in the regatta.
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