Fireworks on Finals Day at Henley Royal Regatta

Henley Royal Regatta concluded on July 8 as champions were named in 26 events across five categories, with Princeton winning the The Ladies' Challenge Plate and Washington suffered a heartbreaking loss in the Grand Challenge Cup.

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• Brookes win six events, including four out of the nine Eights events.
• Marlow Rowing Club win first event in 11 years, and has junior quads in both The Diamond Jubilee and Fawley Challenge Cup Finals.
• The Prince Philip Challenge Cup for junior women’s eights was won by Headington School, the first domestic school in three years, since the event started.
• Oliver Zeidler secures third consecutive Henley victory in The Diamond Challenge Sculls ahead of the Paris Games.

The Morning Session:
Conditions: Overcast, rain, breaks of sunshine.

Battle of The Brit

Royal Chester Rowing Club fought a hard battle with Thames Rowing Club in the final of The Britannia Challenge Cup. Both crews raced valiantly, with Chester narrowing the gap at the Quarter Mile to a quarter of a length. However, Thames won the first race of the day by one length.

Homecoming

Windsor Boys’ School dominated from the beginning of the Final of The Fawley Challenge Cup. Marlow pushed themselves and their opponent, but ultimately were outdone by the power and technical bladework of the Windsor Boys’, who won the Cup for the fourth time.

Triple Threat

Defending champions, Thames Rowing Club, returned to race London Rowing Club in the final of The Wargrave Challenge Cup. The favourites to win took an early lead and continued to pull away from their opponents, winning the Wargrave Challenge Cup for the third year running.

Double Trouble

The final of The Double Sculls Challenge Cup between Leander Club and a well-drilled pairing from the USA created some excitement in this morning’s racing. Starting sharp, the Brits led the Americans from the end of the island. Despite an aggressive attack from Cunningham and Fuller at the Mile to narrow the gap, the crew representing Leander could respond and continued to move away. Leander Club came away from this contest as victors by two lengths.

Dangerous Driving

A historic Henley Final, for more than one reason, played out between Marlow and Thames in today’s race for The Wyfold Challenge Cup. Both crews shot off from the start, with the Putney-based club edging out to take a narrow lead at the Quarter Mile. The determined crew from Marlow never let their foot off the gas and kept pressure on Thames all the way down the course. Alongside the progress boards, Marlow moved through Thames and had a dramatic clash in neutral water. Marlow came out on top to claim their club’s first Henley Royal Regatta win in ten years.

Oh, Canada

An epic encounter, this race kept spectators on the edge of their seats in The Town Challenge Cup. A fast start gave Leander a third of a length advantage into the Quarter Mile and within the next one hundred and fifty metres, they had extended this to three quarters of a length. Thinking they were secure, Leander held Canada until the Three Quarter Mile, but at Remenham the Canadians began to hunt down Leander’s lead. Drawing level at the Mile and One Eighth, audiences in the enclosure were treated to a show. Upping their rate beyond forty, Canada dug deep and sprinted to the line, winning The Town Challenge Cup on most of the crew’s Henley debut.

Allez Les Bleus

The Final of The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup was an international match with representation from France and Canada. Despite a couple of pushes from the Canadians, they could never re-establish contact with the French crew, who won by one-and-three-quarter lengths.

An Ambush of Tigers

Both crews rated very similarly throughout the duration of the race, but it was Princeton who worked the water more effectively and commanded the competition from the first stroke. Unsatisfied by their one-length advantage, Princeton used the last few hundred metres to create a length and two-thirds of clear water between themselves and Cambridge. Princeton claimed victory in The Ladies’ Challenge Plate by two and two thirds of a length.

German Precision

In the final of The Stonor Challenge Trophy, the German double declared dominance over the British and didn’t allow them to come close throughout the entire race. Managing to sustain a four-length lead over the majority of the course, the pushes of the British crew were futile, and they were unable to recover the lengths lost early on.

No Trouble for Thames

A comfortable race for Thames R.C. in The Thames Challenge Cup. By the time Thames had taken the lead, the Dutch simply couldn’t respond effectively enough to destabilise Thames’ path to victory. Thames won the Cup with a third-length lead.

Vier für Zeidler

This final of The Diamond Challenge Sculls marked Oliver Zeidler’s third consecutive Henley victory. Plihal sculled hard but was outdone by Zeidler, who had already moved six lengths away from him by Fawley. Zeidler’s fourth victory never looked in jeopardy as he beat Jacob Plihal, a fellow Olympic-bound athlete, ‘easily’.

Brookes’ Race Takes a Turn-ell for the Worse

In race 13 of the day for The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, firing off the blocks, this race started out tight with only two feet separating the two crews at the Quarter Mile. From here, Leander drew ahead, bolstered by the Blue Star bow seat, Bruce Turnell’s ‘beautiful steering’. Meanwhile, Oxford Brookes fought hard but received repeated warnings for their steering and couldn’t catch the boys in pink. In the end, Leander Club claimed victory in The Visitors’ Challenge Cup by one length.

Turning The Tide

A battle between the first winners of this event and a crew aiming to continue the foreign domination of the past two years, both had a high rate off the start, with Headington taking an early lead of ½ a length to the barrier, which they extended past Fawley and never truly looked like losing. Try as they might, RowAmericaRye could not unseat the local champions, and Headington surged towards the finish, eventually winning The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy by two lengths.

Hat-Trick Secured for Leander

A tidy start allowed the German quad to lead until the Barrier, Leander trailing ¼ length behind. Approaching Fawley, Leander made a sustained push, which inched them up to 1 ¾ lengths in front of the Germans by the Mile. In a desperate bid to reclaim their advantage, the Braunschweig & Magdeburg crew dashed towards the line and recovered the best part of a length, but unfortunately they came up short, and Leander triumphed in The Queen Mother Challenge Cup to secure their third win of the day.

A Brookes Trio

Today was the third victory for Brookes in the four years that The Island Challenge Cup has existed. Entering this race as favourites, Oxford Brookes just proved too fast for the spirited Newcastle crew to catch up to, and they won by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Boys in the Booms

Torrential rain and a broken oar made the final of The Grand Challenge Cup tense. Oxford Brookes have won this event for the past three years. Washington, however, is yet to claim the title.

The race started as expected: strong, punchy, and precise. The crews drew level, intensifying the atmosphere of the race as both vied for the lead. Washington made the first move and crept ahead. Brookes remained focused but did not respond to Washington’s early lead although they continued to row long and powerfully to maintain contact with their competition. The early lead was short-lived when, approaching the barrier, Brookes drew level.

Washington continued to apply pressure to Brookes, not letting them slip away, but the steering of the Washington boat went awry, causing them to hit the booms. The mistake gave Brookes an opportunity to storm into a lead. Despite Washington’s prompt recovery, the seconds it took to get back on track gave Brookes a two-length lead that Washington failed to mitigate. At the one and one-eighth mile Washington were three and three quarter lengths down from Brookes’. Oxford Brookes University and Taurus Boat Club crossed the line to be crowned winners of The Grand Challenge Cup.

The Afternoon Session:
Conditions: Sporadic rain with intervals of sunshine.

Three in Four for the Black and White

It was a match between St. Paul’s School and Shiplake College in the Final of The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. St. Paul’s led early off the start and maintained the ⅓ length lead at the Quarter Mile to ¾ of a length at the barrier. Although Shiplake reduced the lead slightly at Remenham with a later burst of pace, St. Paul’s never looked like relinquishing their lead and held off the sprint to win their third PE title in four years by ¾ of a length at the finish.

Royal Seal of Approval

With special guest Prince Albert II of Monaco in the umpire’s launch, the Final of The Princess Grace Challenge Cup got underway this afternoon. This was a closely fought battle between the Swiss and Canadians down the entirety of the course; however, Shawnigan Lake School of Canada claimed victory by three-quarters of a length.

Dutch Dominance

In the Final of The Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup, the Dutch pair took an immediate lead and, despite some erratic steering, stayed in control. At the mile marker, the Dutch continued to pull away from the Germans, claiming an easy verdict.

Brookes Edge a Classic

The eventual winners of The Remenham Challenge Cup, Oxford Brookes, were never able to move more than half a length away from Princeton at any point during this race. Brookes used a lower, more efficient stroke rate to power through and claim half a length by the Quarter Mile but this was reduced to one-third by Fawley and only a canvas at the Mile. Both crews fought until the Finish, Brookes receiving repeated warnings about their steering; however, in the end they crossed the line half a length ahead of Princeton.

Follow the Lea(n)der

With two very evenly matched crews, this Final of The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup treated spectators to an enthralling spectacle. Leander took a small lead off the start, but by the Barrier, Skoll closed the gap, and the crews drew level. Stroke for stroke, the two quads matched each other in length and power, holding each other until Fawley. Neither crew managed to pull ahead until the Three Quarter Mile when Leander made a decisive move and progressively pulled away from the Dutch. Into the enclosures, the Dutch steering proved an obstacle too big in the fight to cross the line first, and Leander declared victory for the fourth consecutive year.

Liu secures Win for China 

In the Final of The Princess Royal Challenge Cup, Liu, within the first minute, steadily moved into the lead in an easy stride and was more than capable of keeping Madden at bay. Madden’s challenge to claim back some water came too late, making her efforts ineffective, and by the One and One Eighth Mile, Madden was down three lengths. R. Liu of Shanghai Jiao University, China, has claimed the title with a three-and-a-quarter length lead.

Temple Trouble for Princeton

Princeton led the race to Fawley, where Brookes began their attack and took the lead, but having steered into Princeton’s station caused the umpire to hold the result. After deliberation, the Brookes’ victory was held and they claimed the title of The Temple Challenge Cup with a one length lead.

Wycliffe Win Again

Wycliffe have been dominant on the junior women’s sculling scene this season, and they were able to confidently convert this into their school’s first Henley Royal Regatta win. The girls in purple had a very spritely start and took an expected immediate lead. Wycliffe moved steadily away and never allowed Marlow to get back into the race, despite attempts to push. Wycliffe claimed victory in The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup with a three-boat-length lead ahead of Marlow.

Brookes Boys Win Again

In a straight Final in The Stewards’ Challenge Cup, there was no race data available for these crews to pick a clear favourite from. It looked as if Leander were going to continue the advantage that they had held for the first two kilometres into the enclosures, but Brookes were determined to take this lead from Leander’s grasp. Appearing as though they had teased their opposition into thinking they would win, Brookes flipped a switch through the Stewards’ Enclosure, quickly claiming dominance and snatching the victory from their competition. Defeated, Leander conceded to the crew, who had also won The Grand Challenge Cup earlier in the day.

Brookes v Brookes. “A” Dominant Performance 

The final student event of the day was The Prince Albert Challenge Cup. Brookes’ ‘B’ kept the umpire on their toes as they refused to move into their station from the island until the Quarter Mile. This race on the whole remained unchanged once Brookes ‘A’ had taken the lead. The amount of open water between the crews only increased as the race went on. Brookes ‘A’ won The Prince Albert with four and a half lengths to spare.

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