It's finally finals day at Henley 2016, and crews are racing for the little red box, so expect some fireworks (including Saturday night's annual fireworks session). Four US crews remain in the mix: the Princeton Training Center women's eight in the Remenham, the Schuylkill Navy HPC in the Prince of Wales (second level men's quad), Calinfornia Rowing Club in the open men's quad, and Cal in the Visitor's Four. Here are our suggestions for races to watch, and when to watch them; good luck to all the crews!
12.10 Temple Challenge Cup
Harvard University will contest the Temple Challenge Cup against Britain's Oxford Brookes University, winners of this event in 2014. Harvard came out on top in the all-American semi-final, holding-off University of California, Berkeley by a length.
Harvard bowman Sam Meijer will be hoping to reverse his Henley finals fortunes; he was a losing crew member for Westminster in last year's Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup against St Paul's. Brookes, though, are British Universities Champions and were overall winners of the Head of the River Race in the spring.
12.30 Remenham Challenge Cup
Princeton Training Centre made light work of their semi-final against Praha and Decin winning easily to set up a final against Leander Club & Tees RC, a GB development crew. Princeton Training Center previously won the Remenham in 2011, setting a course record in the Friday heats.
12.40 Prince of Wales Challenge Cup
Schuylkill Navy H.P.C. will be looking to break the chain in the Prince of Wales challenge cup after securing a spot in Sunday's final. The event has been won by Leander Club for seven consecutive years and the local team will not be giving up their record easily as they defend their crown again.
2.40 Queen Mother Challenge Cup
The final of the Queen Mother Challenge Cup will see another USA v Leander Club contest, with California RC providing the American opposition. Leander have been part of a Queen Mother winning composite crew in five of the last six years, but this time the crew is all from Leander. The Leander crew are all GB U23 traillists and were 2nd at the British Championships in 2015.
3:10 Thams Cup
The NSR Oslo crew has been in the middle of enough controversy here to satisfy a spot in the Daily Mail, and will take on the Molesey Boat Club in the final. Listen for the chants of Mollllleseeeeeyyyy as the crews come down the course, irrespective of how well they are doing; it's a Henleey tradition.
3.20 Visitors Challenge Cup
Reigning champions University of California, Berkeley will defend their 2015 title in The Visitors Challenge Cup against Thames Rowing Club. Berkeley had to contend with a restart after a clash off the start before seeing-off an Oxford Brooks / Proteus (NED) composite in their semi-final. There was more drama in the second semi-final with De Amstel & Proteus-Eretes of Holland colliding with the boom early in the race and they recovered well to challenge Thames Rowing club. But it was Thames who booked their place in the final beating a crew that contained two Olympians.
3:30 Grand Challenge
A heap of British nationals/US uni students are in the Nautilus crew, who will take on the Dutch Olympic eight, the only country with Olympic crews in the mix at this year's Henley.
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