The Highs and Lows: Henley Women’s Regatta in Review

Feels great to be back in the swing of things, doesn’t it? Henley Women’s 2020 was one of the thousands of events called off in Covid’s wake of destruction, but today we ended on a high after a meteoric return to racing. For those on the water, some enjoyed an equally spectacular return to the top, whilst for others, the brutality of the Henley format saw them knocked out before finals day arrived.

Junior Events:

Junior Quad Sculls

In the semi finals this afternoon, Shiplake beat Wallingford by 5 seconds in the first round of racing, winning in a time of 4.35 before Marlow then took on St Edward’s School, beating them by 6 seconds in a time of 4.44. Given the fact that neither Shiplake and Marlow were at the top of the pack after heats on Saturday, these were both surprisingly performances. However, Shiplake was suspected to lead the events in initial previews, and in the finals they did not disappoint, coming first and winning the event in a time of 4.29. Given the standards of the crews entered this year, Shiplake did immensely well to come at the top of such a strong and varied field.

Junior Doubles

The doubles category gave us some fantastic racing, and this culminated in a very convincing win from the Peterborough crew who looked strong throughout their races on the day. They were consistently around 10 seconds ahead of their opponents and made all three races look effortless. In the other battles, the Wallingford/Claires Court race ended up being a great one, with their semi-final being the most evenly matched and closest finish. 

Junior Eights

This ending was fascinating, with the two crews in the final being the ones who did not race on Saturday afternoon- this is not to say they did not have a tough three races to get to there. With the new addition of the Junior Women’s Eights at Henley Royal Regatta the calibre of these crews were next level and I assume that we will see the majority of them again in a month’s time. As for the races themselves, these girls gave us some of the best racing of the day, one of the highlights being the Enniskillen/Latymer Upper quarter-final and the Henley/LEH semi-final which were both down to the wire races. However, it was the impressive Headington crew that was victorious over Henley in the final and in true Headington style they were the definitive winners. 

Junior Singles: 

The singles kicked off with a great race between Radnor House and Reading RC, they were neck and neck for most of the course, with the sculler from Reading able to snatch the win by three seconds at the end. Luna Mills, from Reading RC, ended up in the final against Zoe Scheske, who looked unbeatable during her races earlier in the day. It turns out she was just that, she won with a twenty second lead and although Mills put up a good fight it was the Tideway Sculler that was dominant. 

Junior Coxed Four

It was great to see an all Scottish semi-final today in this highly entertaining coxed four category, with Glasgow Academy and Aberdeen RA going head to head and giving us a great race. It was ultimately the Glasgow Academy boat that emerged victorious and they carried this forward into the final, winning against a very strong Tideway Scullers crew. Tideway may have had the fastest heat yesterday, but the Glasgow Academy crew were the ones to beat and after their win at NSR they have continued to succeed. 

Junior 16 Quad Sculls

Both the semi-finals were close runs in this junior 16 category, but it was Marlow that just beat Tideway Scullers to the line in one of the most exciting races of the day and they were neck and neck almost all the way to the finish. The Hinksey and Kingston semi was also a close fought one, although Kingston ended up winning by a margin of four seconds. This set the stage for a good final race and it didn’t disappoint but by the finish Marlow had rowed ahead to take the win.

Junior Coxed Fours

After a set of exciting heats yesterday, the Yarm/Latymer race took to the course first, and it was a very good one. Yarm did not let the Latymer crew get too far away from them and pushed them all the way to the finish. In the other semi-final, which involved the two Surbiton crews, as predicted the Surbiton ‘A’ boat stormed down the course to take the win. This left us with a Latymer/Surbition final and it was ultimately the very strong Surbiton crew that rowed through to take the win.

Student Events:

Aspirational Academic Eights

I don’t mean to gloat, but our prediction was spot on. An intense Brookes-UL final saw the favourites in purple take an early lead, which they never seemed to even consider relinquishing, not that Brookes gave them an easy ride, pushing UL all the way down Henley reach. The victorious crew contained 6 athletes who took the win in the intermediate eights at BUCS, in addition to one oarswoman from UL’s championship crew that walked away with a silver at the same event. Excitingly, many of the crews from this event will go on to contest Henley Royal’s joint-newest event – the Island Challenge Cup – in just a few weeks time. On a side note, this is one of three new women’s events at the 2021 Regatta, with the Wargrave Challenge Cup for Club Eights and the as-yet unnamed junior eights events flanking this new blue ribbon event for student rowers.

Aspirational Academic Fours

An all-London affair, the final of the student fours was as close as we had hoped. Off the island, it was UL who took an early lead after Imperial were forced to avert disaster as they closed on the booms in the first few stroked of their race. Yet by the halfway point, it was the stronger imperial crew who came through to edge out on their competition; but with only seconds separating the crews at the finish line, it truly was a race that could have gone either way.

Conclusion:

So, how to wrap up this weekend? Well for one, it’s been absolute joy to experience, and there was a great atmosphere onsite despite the changeable weather! To see all the crews come flying down that Henley course was a testament to the tenacity and perseverance of the rowers, the coaches and all involved during this difficult last year and a half and everyone who raced should be proud of what they achieved. I for one can’t wait to see what next year brings and hope to see an even bigger crowd of spectators, rowers and volunteers in Henley enjoying the sun (or rain) and the fantastic racing.

We’ll see these crews in action on the Henley course again in a little over a month – and we can’t wait.

Until then…

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