With three weeks to go until Henley Royal Regatta 2024, the excitement in the rowing community is at fever-pitch. Crews are tightening the screws in final preparation and rowing enthusiasts are turning to YouTube to immerse themselves in regattas of old. With that in mind, we thought it might be time to also scroll through the pages of (recent) history and earmark some of the greatest boats to travel down the Henley straights. We’re going to take a look at the past decade of racing and (re)crown the best of the best, with this piece focusing on the student categories…
#5: Newcastle University, Prince Albert Challenge Cup, 2014
This was Newcastle’s first victory in this event for six years and one of only three Henley Royal Regatta wins they have managed in the past 15 years. Featuring both Tom Ford and James Rudkin – who now sit at stroke and seven in the British men’s eight – they swept all before them in a dominant showing for the legendary Geordie boat club. Not only was their victory impressive but the manner in which it was secured demonstrated a crew who had complete control throughout – no-one got within two lengths of them with the exception of Bath University on day one after Newcastle had slowed to a paddle in the closing stages.
#4: Oxford Brookes University, Island Challenge Cup, 2023
The rhetoric surrounding the 2023 edition of the Island Challenge Cup was how strong the international contingent was going to be. Entries from Stanford, Texas, Penn, Northeastern, Harvard and Syracuse alongside a strong host of Dutch boats meant all eyes turned to watch the oncoming storm of NCAA royalty. Oxford Brookes, as they so often do, cut through the noise to deliver a resounding performance that saw them turn over the University of Pennsylvania twice in two weeks, beginning with a win at Henley Women’s Regatta. This was followed by a titanic battle between the two a couple of weeks later, where Brookes once again prevailed to complete a clean-sweep of university titles on the domestic circuit.
#3: University of Washington, USA, Temple Challenge Cup, 2018
Were it not for Michael Callahan’s Huskies, Brookes would have won four Temple Challenge Cup titles in a row through the second half of last decade (a run which would otherwise only have been halted for the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapsing athlete in the closing metres against the Dutch in 2021). The University of Washington always rise to the Henley occasion and 2018 was a vintage west-coast whirlwind of unfettered horsepower and distinctive UW finesse. They dispatched a very fast Oxford Brookes in the final to set a new record to every single timing marker. A classic Henley performance at arguably the best version of Henley Royal Regatta in the past ten years.
#2: Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Nereus, Netherlands, Temple Challenge Cup, 2015
If we’re talking about vintage Henley Royal Regattas, 2015 stands the test of time. In the year before the Olympic Games in Rio, the event welcomed a host of top-class crews including an American collegiate tussle in the Ladies, an epic match-up between the British and the Germans in the Grand and a Tideway-based rivalry in the schoolboy eights. The race of the Regatta though came in the Temple Challenge Cup, as the inaugural year of the broadcast was blessed with an all-timer; Oxford Brookes, the holders, up against Nereus, regulars at Henley Royal Regatta and arguably the strongest of the Dutch rowing universities. Setting a new record to the Barrier and the Fawley before matching the record to the finish, the Dutch saw off Brookes by a canvas in one of the greatest quarter-finals of all time. Comparatively, the rest of the week was plain-sailing for this Nereus boat, who cemented themselves in the history books as the fastest Dutch student eight to ever race at Henley in winning the Temple Challenge Cup.
#1: Oxford Brookes University, Temple Challenge Cup, 2022-2023
When we look back on what Oxford Brookes have built in years to come, time will probably give us a greater sense of perspective on the size and scale of their achievements. This is a boat club at the very peak of its powers, taking good athletes and transforming them into world-beaters. It is no coincidence that the resurgence of the national team correlates with Brookes’ rise to the top of the student pile. Pound for pound, they’re the best boat club on the planet and their past two victories in the Temple Challenge Cup have reinforced that narrative. The manner in which they simply dispatched Washington by over four lengths in 2022 – who led them to the Barrier – was emphatic and their victory over the Syracuse 1V in the 2023 final was equally as impressive, not least because they’d beaten the Huskies again the day before. It speaks volumes that #2 and #3 are on this list largely because they managed to get one over on Brookes – a feat that is increasingly tricky to even imagine, let alone execute, in 2024.
About The Author
