As the Metropolitan Regatta draws to a close and a stream of cars trickle out of the Dorney Lake compound, the scent of Henley Women’s and Royal Regatta will be thick in the long summer evening. With the former less than two weeks from starting, we’re well and truly into the close season for domestic rowing in 2023 and the key runners and riders to contest red boxes are starting to emerge from the springtime gloom. With the sun finally making an extended appearance in the sky and the pub gardens in full seasonal swing, it’s hard not to start letting the mind wonder to trimmed green lawns, sun-kissed deckchairs and the blue-white livery of boat tents.
Disclaimer – All of the below represents Saturday’s racing.
Championship Men’s Eights
All of the eights were folded into one armada as clubs, universities and schools pitched up in varying states of preparedness. A lot of the latter were still reeling from the National Schools’ Regatta six days prior and both the entry roster and results were a reflection of that – many schools have taken the half-term opportunity to go on training camp and reset the program ahead of a final sprint into Henley Royal Regatta. St Paul’s School were the fastest junior finishers, placing fifth in the ‘B’ final (and notably the only junior occupant in that race). King’s College School finished second in the ‘C’ final, three seconds slower than the time St Paul’s clocked a race before. Latymer Upper School were seventh in the same contest. No huge surprises to be honest – I might have expected St Paul’s to sneak an ‘A’ final placing, as some of the fastest historical junior crews have done in the past, but frankly they were racing limited direct opposition and won’t have put too much stock into this competition.
On the student side, Oxford Brookes won the ‘A’ final in a boat that is not Thames eligible (and is fairly likely to be their Ladies Challenge Plate boat). Leander Club – direct competitors in the latter category and current holders of that particular Henley trophy – were a couple of seconds back. The match-up between these two, plus any international spice, will be fascinating to watch unfold over the coming weeks.
Frankly, the Temple Challenge Cup looks like Brookes to lose once again. Their Temple-eligible entry finished third overall, putting nine seconds into closest challengers Thames Rowing Club, who also look like a shoe-in for the Thames Challenge Cup after losing out to Molesey in 2022. Durham University were the next-fastest student boat, finishing seventh overall but nearly 20 seconds back on Brookes. It’s hard to conceive a scenario whereby they recover that deficit in the next three weeks.
Championship Women’s Eights
Another narrative completely dominated by the utterly unflappable Oxford Brookes program. First, third and fourth overall is astonishing and representative of their depth and the squad Henry Bailhache-Webb, Hugo Gulliver and Richard Spratley have built over the past decade. I would love to see Brookes ‘A’ have a crack at the Remenham and their ‘B’ boat contest the Island. Their senior crew were six seconds clear of Thames Rowing Club, who are threatening to clean-house in the club events this year (a feat they very nearly achieved in 2022). Durham University, who look a force to be reckoned with once again under the stewardship of Rob Dauncey, were fifth overall but only a few seconds back on Brookes ‘B’ and ‘C’, who they must hope are their direct Island competition. After ending up 23 seconds back on Brookes at BUCS Regatta, Durham are making positive strides. They’ll also have been pleased to see Newcastle University three seconds behind – the two have been in hand-to-hand combat all year and Durham will be delighted to retain bragging rights approaching the Henley series. Meanwhile, Leander Club have a fight on their hands to wrest the Wargrave Challenge Cup out of Thames’ hands – they were eight seconds back on Thames ‘A’.
On the junior side, it is a little harder to unpick. Several of the country’s best athletes jumped into composite boats under their respective school/club flags plus the familiar moniker of Nautilus Boat Club. The fastest such outfit placed second in the ‘B’ final whilst the second iteration was fifth. The quickest one-club junior entry came from Latymer Upper School, who were eighth in the ‘D’ final. Pretty hard to draw any conclusions from those results – let’s see how racing unfolds at Henley Women’s Regatta and which boats Henley Rowing Club choose to prioritise.
Championship Men’s Quads
Thames Rowing Club were in fine sculling form, sweeping home at the head of a large field containing several notable candidates for top prize. This crew has some serious talent on-board – Joe Wolfin and Jake Brown were in the coxless four that made the semi-finals of the Visitors’ Challenge Cup in 2022 whilst Zack Youell won the Thames Challenge Cup in 2021. If L Jenkins is Lenny, then he’s the most decorated athlete of them all as a Yale graduate and senior international. This crew will take some serious stopping in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup. London Rowing Club – powered by Scullers and Pairs Head winner Rui Xu – were second whilst Bath University came in third, ahead of the likes of Reading University and Thames ‘B’. The fastest junior crew was Leander Club, who put right the events of last weekend to see off both Marlow Rowing Club and Hinksey Sculling School by 12 and 17 seconds respectively. It is a testament to the strength of schoolboy sculling in the UK that three of the eight ‘A’ finalists were junior boats. Windsor Boys School, winners at the National Schools’ Regatta, were conspicuous in their absence.
Championship Women’s Quads
As per our pre-event preview, Leander Club dominated this in typical fashion – their winning margin of six seconds emphasising the stranglehold they have over club sculling in this country. Molesey Boat Club were second and Leander ‘B’ third – it will be very interesting to see what happens to these athletes at Henley Royal Regatta. The Princess Grace Challenge Cup is usually dictated by crews of an international calibre and, meaning no disrespect to either Leander or Molesey, it’s unlikely either would be seriously challenging for that competition if the category receives senior interest.
The battle for junior supremacy raged below the leading contenders. In what was probably one of the biggest surprises of the regatta, Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club – winners at the National Schools’ Regatta a week ago – were beaten by both Marlow Rowing Club and Tideway Scullers School, who were second and seventh respectively at the latter event. Word has it that Greg Flower took his girls on training camp this week and so fatigue will have undoubtedly played a part in proceedings. That said, this will not be the result that Wycliffe will have wanted heading into the apex of the season.
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