We’re getting closer. After what for some might have felt like an awful long time between competitive racing, we’re back into the swing of serious season, with just over four weeks to go until Henley Royal Regatta. Tag on that Henley Women’s Regatta finals day will be unfolding in three weeks’ time and you have a recipe for some tantalising summer spectacles.
Although the juniors had a run down the Dorney course just a week ago, most of the student and club athletes who will contest major honours in a month’s time have not really raced against each other in multi-lane format since the first May bank holiday. The Metropolitan Regatta provides us all with the ideal marker post between early-season form and the culmination of a season on the Henley straights. Let’s dive in and pick out the narratives…
Disclaimer: This review largely represents Saturday racing
Open Championship Eight
With Oxford Brookes conspicuous in their absence from the starting grid here (their international tour took them instead to the Holland Beker), it was the turn of Cambridge University to give us all a timely reminder of just what a Boat Race crew can do. After overturning the odds in their grudge match in late March against Oxford, Rob Baker’s boys are on the Temple trail and this result – where they got the better of a bunch of Thames and London eights plus some of the fastest junior crews the country has to offer – will only serve to bolster confidence. This was also another warning shot across the bows of Brookes, whom they beat in the four at BUCS Regatta. I’m sure Henry Bailhache-Webb and his athletes were watching developments with interest but if I know anything about the Brookes program, then they’ll relish the challenge.
Behind them, two Thames eights squeezed past a crew from London in their ongoing contest for domestic – and Putney embankment – supremacy. It will be interesting to see how these crews fold out in the coming weeks and where each club pile their resources.
St Paul’s were the fastest junior crew on offer, finishing fifth overall, but will be slightly alarmed that Westminster School – who finished seventh at the National Schools’ Regatta a week ago in a race that St Paul’s won – were only four seconds back. It’s a continual reminder that the standard of junior rowing in this country is only going up.
Durham got the better of Newcastle again, winning the ‘B’ final in a time that would have placed them sixth in the ‘A’ final. To have seen both Imperial and Bristol squeeze into the premier final ahead of them will have been displeasing although, again, it’s hard to speculate where the best athletes from each program are currently plying their trade.
Women’s Championship Eight
Relatively unsurprising to see the Imperial/Leander combination dominate proceedings, emerging as winners of the ‘A’ final by three seconds. With Lizzie Witt in the bow seat alongside a host of U23 medalists and development trial winners, this crew will surely be pitching at the Remenham Challenge Cup. I can’t see anyone getting close to them domestically; the question remains as to which international entrants we may see.
Behind them, Thames Rowing Club reaffirmed their status as the UK’s leading club contender whilst the battle between Newcastle and Durham universities ratcheted up a notch. After the former lost out to the latter at BUCS Regatta, the tables were turned at Dorney on Saturday (albeit with some crew changes on Durham’s part). With Brookes absent, the battle for bridesmaid-in-chief rages on as the University of London placed fifth with Edinburgh less than half a second back in sixth. All four of these student outfits were less than two seconds apart, setting us up for some fantastic racing at both Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regattas.
The fastest junior crew were Headington, who placed fourth in the ‘B’ final. What will have been especially heartening for Ryan Demaine’s girls was that they beat Hinksey by nearly five seconds after losing the national championship to them a week ago.
Open Championship Quad
In an ‘A’ field dominated by senior quads, it was the composite from Lea Rowing Club/London Rowing Club who emerged to take the win by nearly three seconds. This crew contains a number of athletes with previous Henley honours, including Fawley Challenge Cup winner Isaac Workman and Wyfold Challenge Cup winners Edoardo Marshall and George Cowley. It seems logical given the various club ineligibilities on-board that this crew are pitching for a tile at the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup.
Reading University were the best of the rest in a field that contained two further Reading quads and a combination from Bath University/Nottinghamshire Counties Rowing Association. What really caught my attention though was the shifting hierarchy on the junior men’s side. Hartpury College finished as the fastest junior quad of the day, placing fifth in the ‘A’ final and ahead of National Schools’ Regatta bronze medalists from Hinksey Sculling School. Clearly, the addition of single scull national champion has injected this boat with some serious pace.
In the ‘B’ final, it looked to me like the ‘B’ Hinksey quad won the race ahead of their ‘A’ crew, giving Bodo Schulenberg plenty to think about in the coming weeks.
Women’s Championship Quad
Are we witnessing another of the great junior crews? All signs point to the affirmative as Wycliffe College added yet another string to their ever-expanding bow, winning the open quad category ahead of two Leander crews stacked full of U23 and domestic pedigree. Greg Flower’s proteges have swept all before them in 2023, winning the two major head races by comfortable margins before retaining their title at the National Schools’ Regatta last weekend. Can anyone stop their assault on the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup?
The Wycliffe second crew were fourth overall, half a second clear of Claires Court in fifth. Sir William Perkins and Headington School were seventh and eighth.
Comment
The narratives are beginning to swirl approaching the apex of the summer season. With no Olympic crews slated to race at Henley Royal Regatta this summer (with the exception of Ollie Zeidler), this leaves headroom for the top domestic talent to squeeze into that space and free up slots in the intermediate, club and student categories. Our next look at the open events is likely to be Marlow Regatta, which signals ten days to go until racing begins, whilst Henley Women’s Regatta will provide us with our surest indication yet of how the women are trending. Watch out for our Rumoured International Entries piece which will land on Tuesday – we’re expecting a pretty substantial contingent of international boats.
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