On Sunday morning each year, there is a very well-attended, rowing-themed service at the Henley church - the same one that is visible just beyond the finish line in many Henley photos. This morning, the Malvern crew served as ushers and collection folks at the request of the church and the regatta.
Henley Sunday has a somewhat sprawling schedule; there are six races, then a 100-minute lunch; next up comes another eight races, then a 70-minute tea; finally, a four-race regatta-ending stretch. Perhaps the better to keep the bars and food service cash registers chiming...
Mike Rosewell tells row2k that the Henley RC that won the Thames is the first Henley RC crew to win since 1839 - the first year of the regatta. There is a US connection in the crew; 2-seat DJ Lambourn was the Princeton frosh stroke this past spring. The two crews in this event have been fighting toward the final for some time; both fell in the semis last year, and five members of last year's crews are rowing in this year's crews.
A somewhat uber-lightweight Fiona Milne has fared very well into the headwinds, rowing a strong, thumping stroke, but wasn't up to matching Neykova's version of the same thing.
After a pretty good tussle of about a minute, Wyatt Allen strode out and away from CM Palmer in the Diamonds to take the singles title; tremendous congrats to Wyatt. Palmer will likely be heard from again; he started sculling only in January. Wyatt is the first American to take the Diamonds since Aquil did the same in 2000; following in the launch were members of the Brown Alum eight including Jamie Koven, who won the Diamonds in 1998.
The German eight that won the Grand over the GB eight today got into the spirit of the regatta this week, cheering a very Germanic "Hhip hhip hohrah" at the close of their races.
British scullers have taken quickly to the Dreher round blades; a good number of crews have them here, and club members are talking about them quite a bit.
The Victoria crew was trailing the British four by just under a length when they hit the booms; by the time they recovered, the margin was over four lengths, and it was all over.
St. Joe's gave Eton a great race; after the crews raced for some time essentially even, the Eton crew eked away steadily over the course, perhaps a quarter length every 500, and had to stoke it to get away, too, rowing 37-38 through the entire middle section of the race. As the finish line approached, St. Joe's surged several feet back into Eton's lead, but at one point had almost a full length to make up, and it was just too far to go. The St. Joe's crew is young - there are two 15-year-olds in the boat, so this was a pretty good week for the team.
It's hard to know whether this is consolation, or salt: both of the crews that beat US eights yesterday, Thames in the Remenham over Yale, and Cambridge in the Ladies over Brown Alums, won their events today with a somewhat easier time of it than yesterday.
I believe the last US vs. US final I saw at Henley was the Princeton vs. Princeton Temple a couple years ago; this year, it fell to the two Connecticut crews to race off in the Temple. It was a gnarly race, especially in the early going; Yale had a canvas at the quarter mile; at the Barrier Yale had a foot; at Remenham Yale had 1/3 length. Just before Fawley, the crews were both steered; at Fawley, Trinity was ahead by 1/3 length. A short while later, Trinity had 3/4 length. At the mile, Trinity had 1 1/2 lengths, and kept going from there. As one observer noted, this was just Trinity's Henley.
At the finish the Trinity stroke stood up in the boat and saluted the crew; the bowman stood at the other end of the boat and returned the salute. The Trinity stroke was the younger brother of the bow man, Peter(s) and Tom(b) Graves. They are the sons of Harry Graves, who was in in the last Trinity Crew to win at Henley, the 1976 Ladies Plate.
The press office folks are ready to get out of here and have a Pimm's or four; that's it from row2k for Henley 2005. We hope you enjoyed the coverage; remember to support your favorite rowing Web site!
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