Six days shalt thou labour…*

Is this the end of patriarchal power structures and gender norms?
No, it’s the final of The Ladies’ Plate.

14 December 2019

By Tim Koch

Tim Koch receives a press release from Henley Royal Regatta that confirms some expected but exciting news:

Following the Annual General Meeting [on 10 December], The Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta are pleased to announce that from 2021, the Regatta will extend to six days.

The 2021 Regatta will therefore commence on Tuesday, 29th June and conclude on Sunday, 4th July.

The extra day allows the introduction of two new events for women into the racing timetable – one for Club Eights and one for Junior Eights, reflecting the increased participation and success of women in the sport.

Together with the introduction of the new event for Student Womens Eights at the 2020 Regatta, to be named The Island Challenge Cup, from 2021 the Regatta will offer ten events for women. 

Eyes on the prize. More women will be lifting Henley silverware in 2021.

Speaking of the expansion and the introduction of new events, the Regattas Chairman, Sir Steve Redgrave, commented:

‘Henley Royal Regatta last added an extra day to its programme in 1985. The addition of a sixth day in 2021 reflects the growing popularity of our wonderful sport and the Regatta itself, not least amongst women who are competing in greater numbers and at a higher standard than ever before. I am delighted that with the new events for Student, Junior and Club women, the Regatta will offer a racing programme across all levels, from junior to international’.

High standards: Vicky Thornley competing in the Princess Royal in 2017.

*Exodus 20:9.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.