16 December 2024

By Tim Koch

Following Henley Royal Regatta’s Annual General Meeting held in London on 10 December, numerous changes have been announced for the 2025 Regatta.

In a move that is part of HRR’s continuing commitment towards gender parity, next year will see a new women’s event, The Bridge Challenge Plate for Intermediate Eights (equal to the Open event, The Ladies’ Plate). This will be the first women’s event in the Intermediate category and is the first new event for women since three were added in 2021.

The 2025 Regatta will see gender parity in the top events (now called “Premier”) and in the Junior events. In Intermediate class, there will be three Open and one Women’s events. In Club events, three will be Open, one will be for Women. Student events will number two Open and one Women. “Open” means that the event is open to both men and women.

Further, five existing events at the Regatta have been adjusted to increase the number of women’s entries. These are the Remenham Challenge Cup, the Wargrave Challenge Cup, the Island Challenge Cup, the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy and the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup. 

Notable rule changes include:

A new Rule 10: Events described as Open in these Rules place no restriction on gender, while, except for coxswains, Women’s events are restricted to those assigned female at birth. For the purposes of this Rule, the Regatta will adopt the Trans and Non-Binary inclusion Competition Policy and Procedures of British Rowing which are in effect on the Closing Date.

A new Rule 18: Entries for each event shall be based on the following numbers which are provided for guidance but may be adjusted by the Committee to reflect the quantity and quality of the entry for each event.

The Grand Challenge Cup: 4
The Remenham Challenge Cup: 4
The Ladies’ Challenge Plate: 8
The Bridge Challenge Plate: 8
The Thames Challenge Cup: 32
The Wargrave Challenge Cup: 24
The Temple Challenge Cup: 32
The Island Challenge Cup: 24
The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup: 32
The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy: 24
The Stewards’ Challenge Cup: 4
The Town Challenge Cup: 8
The Visitors’ Challenge Cup: 16
The Wyfold Challenge Cup: 32
The Queen Mother Challenge Cup: 4
The Princess Grace Challenge Cup: 8
The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup: 16
The Fawley Challenge Cup: 24
The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup: 24
The Britannia Challenge Cup: 16
The Prince Albert Challenge Cup: 16
The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup: 8
The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup: 8
The Double Sculls Challenge Cup: 8
The Stonor Challenge Trophy: 8
The Diamond Challenge Sculls: 8
The Princess Royal Challenge Cup: 8

The deletion of Rule 20(c): No member of a losing crew of a Qualifying Race for any prize shall compete for that prize at the same Regatta.

For all the new rule changes see here.

There are five new Stewards.

Gerritjan Eggenkamp represented the Netherlands at three Olympic Games and also won the 2002 Boat Race with Oxford. He is currently World Rowing’s Treasurer.

Cameron Nichol is a doctor of medicine, a two-time world silver medalist, a former Olympic rower, and founder of RowingWOD, “a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering anyone to master rowing.”

Grace Prendergast MNZM won a Gold in the Pair and a Silver in the Eight for New Zealand at Tokyo 2020. Famous for her Pairs partnership with Kerri Gowler, she won five Golds and three Silvers at various World Championships between 2014 and 2022. She was also in the winning Cambridge crew at the 2022 Boat Race.

Elise Sherwell (née Laverick) won Bronze in the double scull at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. After retirement from rowing, she became a Commercial Property lawyer.

Ralph Stoner became 8th Baron Camoys following the death of his father in 2023. Thomas Stoner, the 3rd Baron Camoys, was one of the founders of Henley Regatta in 1839 and all the successors to the barony (bar one) have served on the Committee.

The day after the AGM, I interviewed the new HRR Chairman, Richard Phelps, and asked him about some of the changes and how he sees his role. This will be posted soon.

The 2025 Regatta will take place from Tuesday, 1 July to Sunday, 6 July. 

Editor’s note: After comments, the article has been corrected on 17 December 2024.