For whatever reason--and theories abound, we're sure--the Draw served up a number of close races on Tuesday, and then much wider margins coming past the Enclosures on Wednesday in the second round of the same events...with one very notable "Race of the Day" exception in the exciting Cornell used to edge Durham. Much more on that one below.
Who Moved On
Among US crews, the following won their races:
You can watch race by race replays here on Youtube, and read the Regatta's notes on the Wednesday races here.
On the Thursday
Lots of US women's crews feature in the lists today, as the selected Island crews--like Texas and NCAA champs Stanford--get going, and the selected junior women in the Prince Philip--Winter Park, Deerfield, and Greenwich--start to race. In fact, on the men's side for US teams, there are just two men's fours races and the first round of the Fawley for the selected Los Gatos boy's quad on the docket.
The Temple and PE crews events that dominated the first two days of racing get a rest day--a new feature that is part of the now six-day Henley Royal since last year.
Below is our list of races we'd recommend catching from the Thursday today on the livestream, or perhaps via replay if you missed it--which is where you might have to head to catch the opening race for the junior women's quad from Oregon Rowing Unlimited: the just-crowned US Youth Champs raced St Edwards School at 5am EDT this morning.
7:10 am EDT - Texas vs Oxford Brookes in Island (College W8+)
7:15am EDT - Washington vs Univ. Coll. Dublin in PA (College M4+)
9:05am EDT - Deerfield vs St Pauls Girls School in Pr. Philip (Junior W8+)
10:00am EDT - Marlow vs Greenwich in Pr. Philip (Junior W8+)
10:20am EDT - Oxford Women's BC vs Stanford in Island (College W8+)
11:10am EDT - Adams House, Harvard vs Brown in PA (College M4+)
11:15am EDT - Penn B vs Oxford Brookes B in Island (College W8+)
Race of the Day - Wednesday
The Cornell-Durham battle in the Temple came down to three feet in another Evening session heater along the lines of the Eton-Greenwich PE Classic on Tuesday.
???"10 strokes to go, and it's anybody's game!"@cornell ???? and @DurhamUBC ???? were separated by just 3 feet after the end of 2112m. Fantastic racing from both crews ???? #HRR23 pic.twitter.com/xHv0rX7KFN
- Henley Royal Regatta (@HenleyRegatta) June 28, 2023
The finish was close enough--officially just three feet--that the crowd might have been excused to think that the hands Durham threw up to protest some late Cornell steering was to celebrate a win. The Big Red claimed the first real upset of the Temple draw--Durham being selected--and they had to earn it by staying on the gas all the way down the track, with never more than a couple seats separating the crews.
It makes for a replay worth watching, and it was a heck of a first race to call for US Steward Aquil Abdullah, who just happened to be making his commentary debut on the live stream just then.
Cornell will race Washington in the quarterfinals on Friday after the Temple's Thursday rest day. That will be the one all-US match up in the Temple quarterfinals: Harvard will race Oxford Brookes A; Princeton A (the lightweights) races the Brookes B crew; and Syracuse gets the Dutch from Nereus.
Red Flag Day
You hope not to see them, but in addition to the one referee Alison Faiers showed briefly at the end of that Cornell-Durham race before chatting with the crews, we saw one right at the start of the day in the Visitors coxless fours, when Melbourne came right into Harvard's lane off the start of the third race of the day.
That race did not even clear the Island before it was stopped and the red flag went up to disqualify the Australians - you can see the vid here.
Of course, the booms, stream, and overhanging trees make for a tricky first few strokes even with a coxswain, but straight fours here are a particular challenge. When Syracuse got through with a clean run in their heat of the Visitors later in the day over University College, Dublin, head coach Dave Reischman said as much.
"I'm just glad we came down the course straight," he said, but it was clear he was pleased by how the crew has been coming on in the last week and figuring out the boat.
The Orange crew--four guys out of the Syracuse varsity that raced into the IRA finals the past two years and an Eastern Sprints bronze medal this May--is long on experience together, if not on time in the four itself. The stern three remains intact from the eight, so the engine room of the four has been following senior stroke Arnaud Buard for a while now, but they will get a tough test against the selected Leander crew in the quarterfinal on Friday.
Americans in British Crews
Plenty of Brits in US boats these days, both here and all season long for many colleges, but we definitely heard at least one American in a British crew from the press box.
After winning with her British teammates, she offered up a "God Bless the USA" to the US crew after the traditional hip-hip-hurray.
All those folks crossing the pond to study and row does mean that a few of the US crews have athletes with a good bit of Henley experience already.
Harvard, for instance, might have six freshmen in their eight, but three of them have raced here twice before, and the lone senior in the crew, Patrick Adams, has five Henleys under his belt--a fact noted with approval and a bit of admiration by one spectator perusing the program, which helpfully lists the number of Henley Regattas raced next to each competitor's name.
Persistence Pays Off
We caught up with the Brown four to ask about their trip: their team usually shows up in eights here, but it turns out that when the team started talking about goals for the year it lit a fire in these four guys, who talked the coaches into letting them race as a quartet (plus coxswain) even if the full team did not ultimately make the trip.
How did they pull it off? "By being really persistent," they laughed.
They did note that one downside was that they had to paint their own blades. The Brown coaches on the trip bought the supplies, they said, but they were on their own to actually get it on the oars. The paint job looked pretty good as they sent Durham University out in their first race Wednesday evening, so the boatman at Brown might just have some extra help this year around the boathouse back home in Providence.
Or...Skip the Paint
Lots of teams don't even go the paint route anymore: stickers--or decals, if you are Canadian--are the easy way to get your colors on the new blades you have ordered for your Henley trip.
It is not just a Henley hack, of course, but if does save time, and tape, plus the oars don't need any drying time, which can be an issue when it just might be damp outside.
Penn actually ordered blue blades, so all that Quaker boatman Mike Guerrieri brought along were some pre-cut red triangles to complete the job.
Close to the Action
Not many races bring spectators quite as close to the action as Henley, as the bank runs pretty close to the booms, and the action, in any number of spots.
One first time regatta goer who had made the walk up to the start said she started feeling a bit nervous herself when she got up close to the boats sitting at the line waiting to go--almost like she was in the boats herself.
Diplomacy, Boatmen Croquet Style
row2k has been doing its part to promote international relations, at least on the boatmen front, because it turns out that none of the US boatman knew about the Henley tourney we mentioned on Monday--or the fact that it has its own Instagram account.
Of course, a proper Rigger's Croquet tournament has rules and protocols. Back in the US, for instance, only the boatmen whose teams qualify for the NCAA Championships compete so no one we spoke to was upset about not being invited to play, but we've floated the idea of an international fixture, sort of a riggers super-league arrangement...and will, of course, report back on this developing story.
'Gate Throws it Back
Colgate's crews have been sporting a new and pretty unique design on the front of their uniforms.
While their run in the Temple did come to an end on Wednesday with a gritty effort against Syracuse, we still had to ask about the design, and it turns out to be a reboot, and quite literally a throwback to one of the great Colgate teams of the past:
"The football team in 1932 went undefeated, and they had this as their jersey, and it is on display on our athletics building," team captain Colin Clark told us, saying that fellow senior Riley Rice came up with idea to bring it back.
"We love the look of this retro jersey with these Colgate stripes, so we brought it here. It fits the old-school nature of the entire event."
'On the Water' with Aquil Abdullah
Great chat here between Matthew Pinsent and the newest American Steward, Aquil Abdullah, on his experiences as a second-year Steward and his work promoting inclusion in the sport.
Blazer of the Day
Wednesday's best blazer goes to a whole ensemble, which is the best way to support what Jack Harvard Taylor proudly calls the best boy's school in all of Britain: Shiplake College.
Of course, everyone loves their own school the best, but Mr. Harvard Taylor commitment to the stripes of Shiplake is commendable--and well-rewarded: his Shiplake boys defeated Deerfield with a powerful move to pull back through the last US schoolboy crew in the draw on Wednesday afternoon. Shiplake, from just up the river, is a local favorite, and selected crew. They will face off against the other US crew left in the mix, Marin, on Friday.
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