This year's regatta includes 1698 athletes in 302 crews from 16 nations. The top 10 clubs represented at London, Thames, Molesey, Oxford Brookes, Durham, Leander, Mortlake Anglian, Imperial College, Vesta and Yale, who account for 344 athletes, almost 10% of the total. A total of 80 races were run between 9am and 7:20pm, with batches of five-minute centers broken by the occasional 10-minute center, and of course the Luncheon and Tea Intervals.
Conditions: head current and, surprise, a variable but steady headwind; alternating clouds and sun featured a couple light cloudbursts and sun showers; the end of the day saw dappled sunlight and a steady crosswind.
The Brown alum boat may have some speed, at least over the short run, having beat the Cal frosh by about a canvas in a few 30-stroke brushes on Tuesday. And it is almost a real Brown alum boat, and no one would know save for the orange-and-black uni worn by one two-seat Chris Ahrens. Cheer of the day from the boat launching area: "Go Tigers!" The crew has experience, even on the shore, as they are being coached by Dan Topolski.
It happens every year: two US crews travel across the ocean only to draw their neighbors in the first round. Two crews from Connecticut, not a big place, raced off in the PE today as Choate took their race from Brunswick School.
What's in a name: Trinity College Hartford CT USA drew Trinity College Dublin Ireland in the first round of the Student 4. Trinity won it, of course.
The closest race of the day was Upper Canada's four-foot loss to Bedford Modern School. The crew was down by about this amount for the final 20 strokes, but the cause wasn't helped by some seat troubles in the final couple strokes; ouch.
Re-pats, ex-pats: I'm almost certain I saw the Princeton frosh men's stroke in the two seat of the Henley RC crew rowing in the Temple. Additionally, the Cal frosh stroke won the PE two years ago while rowing for Pangbourne.
The Harvard lights are indeed rowing in the Ladies due to the presence of a Canadian U23 Worlds gold medalist in the six seat. The crew petitioned to race the Thames, noting that their boat speed is appropriate for the event, but the rule is clear, and they had to race up into the Ladies.
The Yale lights are not rowing quite intact; one member could not make it to the regatta, so a member of the heavyweight crew joined the crew. No weigh-ins at Henley, of course.
A couple US crews failed to stop and wait for their competition to cross the line, instead rowing off toward the bridge before the results were announced. This is considered very bad form, even actionably so, as it has resulted in warnings and even a DQ in the past.
It's come to this: the sole comment I overheard in reference to Matt Pinsent was this: "Matthew Pinsent has a nice hat on."
One Richard Gere is rumored to be the heaviest coxswain in the race at 10 stone 8 (148 lbs). He admits he is just back from honeymoon, during which good meals and comfortable living may have added some ballast.
As witnessed by the Boat Race this past year, the British have an interest in finding the biggest and tallest - remember, the Guinness book started around these parts. The heaviest rower is German Claus LeFevre, 5-seat in the Frankfurter crew, who weighs 18st 9, or 261 lbs. The lighest is Jonathan Beck, cox of Royal Belfast, who weighs 6 st 6, or 90 lbs.
Finally, it was only a matter of time: Henley has a Starbucks.
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