Henley Royal Regatta turned on beautiful English summer weather — light wind, sunshine but not too hot — especially for its first races in over two years, as it finally began on Wednesday following a six-week postponement.
There was great joy from attendees at being back in the near-familiar haunts, though because plans had to be made before COVID restrictions were lifted there are changes. The boat tents have been moved halfway down the course and onto the far side of the river, in Fawley Meadows, and there's no Regatta Enclosure for competitors and their friends. Instead, members of the Stewards' Enclosure can buy tickets to a Supporters' Lawn beyond the finish line, festooned with wooden benches and equipped with a decently clear large outdoor screen on which those who don't want to dress up can watch racing while sipping their HRR Pimms.
American regulars to Henley were much in evidence, having bagged seats on planes as soon as they heard the UK rules were changing to allow doubly-vaccinated US residents in without having to quarantine. At least one college coach was using the trip as a chance to meet UK freshmen and women he had not yet seen in person after remote learning and lockdowns affected the university year.
Thursday sees the start of racing for three US crews, with trips up the track for the Visitors' coxless fours (TBC Racing), Prince of Wales quads (Craftsbury Green) and selected crews such as St Joe's Prep School come into the Princess Elizabeth schoolboy eights.
St Joe's face UK national championships finalists Shiplake College, who were pushed very hard by Radley College on Wednesday, but the low number of entries this year due to travel troubles for overseas crews has left the selected crews with first-round byes and an easier ride to the weekend. Craftsbury Green are just happy to be at Henley, their two Stonor doubles having had to withdraw after positive COVID tests in the gap between National Championships (US) and flying to the UK.
The new Junior Women's Eights event, which promises to be extremely popular in future years, was alight with good racing, though Green Lake don't row until Friday, again due to earning selection up-front. They will come up against Sir William Borlase's relatively young crew which beat Surbiton High School by the time-honoured HRR margin of "easily" which means more than 5 lengths. Meanwhile favourites Headington School lurk in the opposite side of the draw.
There was a clash and a (separate) boom-hit, but neither affected the racing outcomes, and umpire Richard Phelps was given a tricky job when Nottingham, who had been overtaking Upper Thames in the coxless fours Wyfolds after some dodgy early steering, veered again near the finish.
The umpire gave it to Nottingham on the grounds that they were already ahead when they steered badly and would have been more ahead if they had gone straight. Upper Thames appealed after the crews got off the water but the appeal was rejected and Nottingham given their win.
Canadian Olympic gold medallist Andrea Proske visited the press box on Wednesday evening, accompanied by Italian sculler Simone Martini. Proske lined up Henley Royal as an antidote to the post-Tokyo blues, and hasn't been home yet, whilst Martini, who was booted out of the Olympic singles spot he had qualified in 2019 by good newcomer and bucket-hat wearer Gennaro di Mauro, felt Henley Royal was a decent replacement for the Games. As selected crews both scullers have a day off on Thursday and begin racing on Friday.
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