This website covers all aspects of the rich history of rowing, as a sport, culture phenomena, a life style, and a necessary element to keep your wit and stay sane.
Watching me watching you. Two nonchalant Henley regulars keep a seasoned eye on Thursday’s action.
1 July 2016
Tim Koch has been looking at people and at paddling on the second day of Henley 2016, a rather warmer day than the one before:
The Temple Challenge Cup (Men’s Student Eights): Columbia University, USA, beat Bath University by 1 length.On the town side of the river, boys from Abingdon School take a break from the regattaThe Fawley Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Quads): Claires Court School beat Westminster School, verdict Easily.A heat of the coxed single sculls?The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Eights): St Paul’s School beat Abingdon School (pictured) by 2 1/4 lengths.Team Italia, Italy, who are entered in The Grand Challenge Cup (Open Men’s Eights). Traditionally, Italians have a great sense of style. This seems to be a break with tradition.The Fawley Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Quads): Abingdon School (enclosure side) beat Maidenhead Rowing Club by a canvass.MTV?The Thames Challenge Cup (Men’s Club Eights): University Barge Club, USA, beat Fujian Rowing Club, China, by 1 1/3 lengths.Shipping the oars.Princess Grace Challenge Cup (Women’s Open Quads): Saratoga Rowing Association, USA, (pictured) beat Schuykill Navy, USA, by 5 lengths.Well rowed! Two fans of the regatta find a good viewing spot on the booms near the finish.The Fawley Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Quads): Glasgow School’s Rowing Club beat Gloucester Rowing Club (pictured) by 1 1/4 lengths.One of the problems unique to Henley – getting entangled with a booze cruse on the way to race. However, the Grasshopper-Club of Zürich, Switzerland, still made it to the start of their heat of the Wyfold Challenge Cup for club coxless fours where they beat Agecroft by 3 1/4 lengths.The Prince Albert Challenge Cup (Men’s Student Coxed Fours): Grand Valley State University, USA, beat Durham University by 1 lengthThe London Oratory School Boat Club’s crew for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Eights). On Wednesday, they beat King’s School, Canterbury but on Thursday they lost to Shiplake College. It is one of perhaps only a dozen state school boat clubs in Britain.The Diamond Sculls (Men’s Open Single Sculls): Mahé Drysdale, West End Rowing Club, New Zealand, beat C.J.H. Berrest, Aviron Toulousain, France, by 3 1/4 lengths. Olympic champion Drysdale is chasing a landmark victory as part of his preparation for the Rio Games. He has won the Diamonds five times and a victory this year would equal the record six wins of Stuart ‘Sam’ Mackenzie of Australia between 1957 and 1962.A row past during the tea interval by the Hong Kong and China Rowing Association to mark 40 years since Hong Kong crews first rowed at Henley Royal Regatta. New deck chairs now have the Regatta logo replacing the simple letters ‘HRR’ and this increases their desirability as ‘souvenirs’. There are doubtful legends about individuals dismantling chairs and smuggling them out, one piece at a time. There are also tales of complete chairs being taken out by river.
Surprised by your assertion that there are only four state school rowing clubs in the UK (“The London Oratory School Boat Club’s … is one of only four state school boat clubs in Britain.”) I know of three such in and around Marlow (Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, Great Marlow School, Royal Grammar School High Wycombe) plus looking at Nat Schools entry there are others (e.g. Mossbourne Academy in Hackney) – an article in the FT in March 2016 reckoned there were 12 state school clubs … http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1953c086-ef89-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386.html#axzz4DA4GHI3s
Thank you Gavin, I am sure that you and the Financial Times are correct (though, if I remember accurately, on the same page that the FT wrote the state school rowing story, it used the names of some of the 2012 Cambridge Crew in a piece on the 2016 lineup: https://heartheboatsing.com/2016/04/01/the-bbcs-boat-race-broadcast-credit-where-its-due/ ) I got the figure ‘four’ from the London Oratory School website: http://www.london-oratory.org/boat-club/38.html However, it was poor of me not to check even a seemingly reliable source properly. My only excuse is that it was written after a long day at Henley. I will change the text to reflect your comments.
Hear The Boat Sing 
Surprised by your assertion that there are only four state school rowing clubs in the UK (“The London Oratory School Boat Club’s … is one of only four state school boat clubs in Britain.”) I know of three such in and around Marlow (Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, Great Marlow School, Royal Grammar School High Wycombe) plus looking at Nat Schools entry there are others (e.g. Mossbourne Academy in Hackney) – an article in the FT in March 2016 reckoned there were 12 state school clubs … http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1953c086-ef89-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386.html#axzz4DA4GHI3s
Thank you Gavin, I am sure that you and the Financial Times are correct (though, if I remember accurately, on the same page that the FT wrote the state school rowing story, it used the names of some of the 2012 Cambridge Crew in a piece on the 2016 lineup: https://heartheboatsing.com/2016/04/01/the-bbcs-boat-race-broadcast-credit-where-its-due/ ) I got the figure ‘four’ from the London Oratory School website: http://www.london-oratory.org/boat-club/38.html However, it was poor of me not to check even a seemingly reliable source properly. My only excuse is that it was written after a long day at Henley. I will change the text to reflect your comments.