Wednesday afternoon at Henley: the winds remained low and the attendance high. Despite the declaration of one umpire that the weather was "dull," it never seems to affect the merriment here. Perhaps the locals have adopted the (American?) concept of the "staycation" and are enjoying the good times within a short drive, or perhaps the large number of early Princess Elizabeth Challenge entries flushes out the parents, but the throngs of supporters are filling the yard in front of the enclosures and the boat tents, hustling to the latter to be in attendance as their athletes show up on the docks.
Speaking of younger entries, it was not just the fully subscribed 32 Princess Elizabeth junior eights. There was also the young Green Lake crew in the Thames Challenge for club eights. The oarsmen were between the ages of 15 and 18, and confronted the pink-clad oarsmen of Twickenham Rowing Club, aged 24-34 with confidence in a midday round of the Thames. They are certainly boys in a men’s category, but the maturity with which they raced belied their age. They had the control to keep rating in check in the first race of their Henley campaign, rating at least three beats lower than their challengers down the course. Looking forward to see this team in the next round, as it is like having a PE crew to follow! Rooting for the kids.
Grand Valley State University, coached by John Bancheri, followed with a race of the Temple Challenge Cup. GVSU was ahead, rating slightly higher than their Oxford Brookes University opposition in the Berkshire Station, up to a mile and an eighth, which is just at the first regatta enclosure. As the crews passed the cheering crowds, the Oxford Brookes crew moved ahead with their crisp blade work to win by just 2/3 length. The GVSU women were in the final of the Senior Eight in the Women's Henley two weeks ago, and GVSU is one of the most successful university club rowing teams (as opposed to school-sponsored and funded teams) in the United States, a shame to see them get knocked out early.
Union Boat Club of Boston and coached by Henry Palmer also departed as a Wyfold contender today. They had a tough draw in Bexhill Rowing Club in the Wyfold Cup for club fours, and were in striking distance but couldn't quite make it happen. Just past the barrier, the crew made a push called by bowman Jeff Toto to stay in contact and came within a length, only to lose what they gained by Remenham. They lost by a length and three quarters. Union Boat Club also has an entry in the Britannia Challenge Cup, which is a club race for coxed fours with 16 entries which starts later in the regatta, good luck to them.
A bit of redemption, perhaps, for University of Virginia. After a disappointing loss in the Prince Albert Challenge for student fours, the Cavaliers come back strong in the Temple student eights to win "easily," a very delicate euphemism for "you could see how much they won by on Google Maps." The umpire described the bright-orange outfitted crew as "scrappy," not a bad moniker for a team that will face Eton College in the next round, a PE regular and deep program on Dorney Lake, a popular venue of late. Eton won "easily" today over Royal Grammar School.
For a first-time visit from the state of Oklahoma, Tulsa Rowing Club, making a first-time appearance for the
After the tea interval, Trinity College (the Hartford version, not Dublin) "A" boat won over the Worcester College and Hertford College composite boat by 4 lengths. The British crew hit the booms early in the race, which left them scrambling and unable to recover. The Trinity "B" boat faced one of the crews with the most pre-race hype, the Dutch DSR Laga crew, who won over the B boat by four lengths, a sting after the "A" boat moved on.
In Harvard's first appearance on the course at the Henley this year, they rowed at a low rating to win over Imperial College School of Medicine in the Temple. The Imperial School's young doctors looked as if they needed medical help, a couple retching at the finish while Harvard rowed over the finish line at 22 to win by four lengths. Ouch.
In the last Prince Albert match of the day, University of Virginia's "B" boat fell to Imperial College, London. Although Imperial had the lead early, Virginia fought back to a "canvas" margin (a deck) at the mile. Imperial was able to draw away yet again, by a half-length at the mile and eighth, and to win by 3/4s length at the finish. It was a bad day for Virginia fours, thankfully the eight pulled out a victory.
For a first-time visit from the state of Oklahoma, Tulsa Rowing Club juniors made a short run at the Thames Challenge Cup. This young crew did not have to go through the qualifying rounds, but spent the week prior racing in the Reading Regatta, a lesson in how competitive young crews are in England. Unfortunately they had to learn that lesson again. In their match late in racing Wednesday, they fell to Nonesuch Rowing Club, an offshoot of University of Bristol boat club.
The tally on the day? Not so good for American crews. Eight losses. Six wins. No pressure for the remaining 13 crews, but let's improve on that win-lose ratio!
A few random comments, observations, notes:
*a comment on one of the crews: "never before have a seen such a crew maintain such a spectacular lack of timing"
*in the "what has the press tent come to" category: two photographers were very earnestly discussing which "girl-in-maxi-dress" photo to feature. Now this is rowing reporting!
*just a note that Charley Butt (Harvard lightweight coach) looked like an Orvis advertisement this AM, and after considerable comments, changed his outdoors-man attire. His teen-aged daughter arrives soon, and hopefully will screen his outfit for the day.
*today there was a protest (very politely) from the Nottingham crew who faced Mitsubishi Rowing Club from Japan. There was "poor steering" from both crews said the umpire, ultimately oars clashed near Fawley.
*The uncoxed Wyfold fours category had the most comments about poor steering and execution from the Umpires.
Good night from Day 1 of Henley racing.
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