Like the "last orders!" call at the bar, time has arrived for one final round at Henley: five US crews survived to Sunday, and today is the one day of the Regatta when things start late enough to catch it all live:
6:00am EDT - Oxford Brookes vs Washington in Prince Albert (College M4+)
7:40am EDT - Oxford Brookes vs Syracuse in Temple (College M8+)
8:00am EDT - Pennsylvania A vs Oxford Brookes A in Island Chall. (College W8+)
10:00am EDT - Greenwich Crew vs Deerfield Academy in Prince Philip (Junior W8+)
Watch them on the livestream or via replay later in the day--but you will be hard pressed to find any dull races today, especially when the GB and Canada eights face off in both women's Remenham final at 10:20 EDT and Men's Grand Challenge final at 10:40 EDT.
The race commentary will cover how each of the finalists earned their way to Sunday, but the Penn/Stanford semifinal served up everything you might expect from two of the top programs in NCAA D1 rowing, and the Syracuse men made the most of their first ever trip to the Temple Semis by taking care of Oxford Brookes B.
This will be the Orange's first Henley final since 1988, in the same year they earned their first Eastern Sprints medal since 1978.
@CuseMRowing reach their first @HenleyRegatta final since losing the Prince Philip (when that event was for Open M4+) in 1988 after beating @OBUBC B crew in the Temple #HRR23
- Daniel Spring (@fatsculler) July 1, 2023
Across the board--and "passing the progress board"--the semifinals yesterday proved, yet again, that the best day of racing comes up river on the Saturday. You can read the Regatta's notes on all the Saturday races here, but we had level pegging right to the line in a few races, crews being overhauled and passed in front the of the Enclosures, and the full suite of Junior events featured two crews in contact nearly the whole way.
"Absolutely kitchen sink time!" ??@HSOBC_Rowing and @GreenwichCrew fighting fiercely for a place in the final ???? #HRR23 pic.twitter.com/xq4GdEYTcD
- Henley Royal Regatta (@HenleyRegatta) July 1, 2023
The biggest margins in the four junior eights semis was the one and a half lengths Deerfield earned over Winter Park in the closing stages of their all-US semi, but even that race had overlap coming past the open grandstand--and the closest was this 3 foot classic by the Leander boys quad:
Dead level until the very end ??@Leander_Club 'A' and @WBSBC firing on all cylinders to gain those precious centimetres ???? #HRR23 pic.twitter.com/rk4DNVyDB1
- Henley Royal Regatta (@HenleyRegatta) July 1, 2023
Memorial for Peter Spurrier
On Saturday at Tea, a veritable who's-who of GB Rowing history gathered to hear Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent say a few words about Peter Spurrier, the dean of rowing photography who passed away in April.
The group featured many Olympians and GB rowers whom Spurrier captured with his lens, along with Olympic coaches, friends, admirers and the rowing journalists and photogs gathered here at Henley--many of whom learned at least something, if not everything, from Spurrier and treasured working alongside him for years.
As one invitation to the event noted, Spurrier's work likely hangs on the wall of nearly every rower who has raced at the highest level of the sport and here at Henley, and it is certainly true that Spurrier' photos defined the standard for rowing photography--it is hard to imagine anyone in the sport who has not seen his work.
On Saturday, the focus, however, was on Spurrier the man and how his humor, his professionalism and his warmth impacted all those in attendance and many more in the sport. Since Spurrier did not wish to have a formal service after his death, Saturday's gathering was that farewell from the British rowing community and, as Redgrave noted, even this would have been too much for the humble Spurrier, but it was a fitting and full moment of gratitude for Spurrier's life and his work.
The photos from the event can be found starting here.
Obstruction on the Course?
The semi between the GB pair of Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George against the presumptive GB U23 pair of Harry Geffen and Miles Beeson was flagged to a stop right around the Barrier for an obstruction on the course.
Turns out that one of the row past crews failed to wait for the race to go by before trying to cross the course, and while in the long shot camera view it probably looked closer that it was to the pairs themselves, the eight was fully blocking the course.
The race had already been dramatic from the off, with Geffen and Beeson flirting with the booms and costing themselves length or more, before it was stopped. The umpire deemed the race could continue from where he'd flagged it dead, so the crews were restarted with the existing margin from where they were--and the senior GB pair continued to control the race over the U23s to win.
Perhaps ironically, since Geffen and Beeson were racing as Yale, where they were been the stern pair of the varsity, the offending crew was a Harvard boat: the Crimson's 1973 Ladies Plate winners.
The whole incident was deftly edited out of the race video, papered over with a replay of the brush with the brooms, but the commentary does refer to the restart, so it did happen, we promise--and it was, to be fair, a very unusual hiccup in a regatta that runs like clockwork for six days straight.
"Thanks for a Great Race"
The Los Gatos quad may have gotten eliminated, but at the line they seemed pretty happy with what they had been able to do, even yelling over to thank the winners from Hinksey Sculling School for giving them a great race.
Making it to Saturday was certainly an accomplishment for the relatively light crew and they clearly brought the level of their racing up a notch in what would prove their last run through the booms: clinging doggedly to Hinksey Sculling School, matching every attempt to break contact with strong sculling through the middle of the race.
The exchange was a good reminder that "out" need not necessarily mean "down" here at Henley, especially when the caliber of the competition is so high, and only one crew ever gets to move on in each race. We saw the same great, next level effort racing again and again on Saturday.
Texas took some impressive swings against the GB national team eight rowing as Leander; the Regatta tabbed Stanford's effort in the Town 4- with their top four athletes a "standout contest" as the Cardinal gave Leander all they could handle, even leading the race for a spell; and Sophia Luwis nearly stayed ahead of Poland's Marta Wieliczko until the Pole finally picked up the rate at the progress board in a well-timed push for the line
Guest of the Press Box
The Peter Spurrier Memorial continued with a small toast in the Press Box by those who worked most closely with Spurrier in countless media rooms at Henleys, World Championships, and Olympics across the years.
The group was joined by Mike Spracklen and there may not be a better excuse for row2k to take some time off from typing all day than having a coach with three Olympic gold medals sitting in your chair.
Before he left, row2k had a chance to talk with Spracklen, who still lives just down the river in Marlow, about his visit with the Colgate oarsmen we mentioned in Monday's report. It turns out that when Spracklen got the call from Colgate Coach Khaled Sanad, he thought, "well, why not throw the bike in the boot of the car?
When he got here, he followed the crew's outing and coached them from the towpath. Spracklen made a point to mention that he didn't want to say much to a crew about to race but gave them a few things that wouldn't hurt. Colgate did win their first round race before coming up against the now-finalists Syracuse, so whatever he pointers he shared from the bank clearly didn't hurt at all.
Here Comes...Molesey?
Looks like everyone is catching Texas fever this week, to judge by these hats on the Molesey four:
It is true that the Texans have made an impact here, especially with the way their "When I say Texas" cheer echoes back and forth across the river thanks to the houses on the opposite bank. We've been hearing some of the younger Brits in the press box saying, "Alright, alright, alright" all week.
The Lollypop
Another feature of the Henley Press Box, beside the occasional legend dropping by, is what the Stewards call 'The Lollypop'--a green on one side, red on the other side traffic signal that lets crews on Saturday and Sunday know whether they can go down the course to the first turn-off, or "go round the outside, please."
A fully analog system, apart from radio contact with Control to know whether the course is clear, the Lollypop is operated by the Steward assigned to what they call the Crow's Nest. From that perch, the Steward can see both the launching crews and where the next race might be on the course. When the Lollypop shows green, crews can paddle down the center of the course, in full view of the Stewards Enclosure, and be announced over the loudspeaker for the crowds.
"Now passing the Enclosures..."
Sisters in Arms
The Greenwich Crew, fresh off their win, just happened to be landing as Deerfield was launching for the opposite semi from the next pontoon over--both the crew and the Greenwich fans joined in the clapping and cheering for Deerfield.
The situation will be a bit different today, as the two face off for the Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy today--and the chance to be the first US crew to claim that prize in the short history of the event.
Footwear Fit for a Finalist
Hard to beat these kicks if you are a 'Cuse fan:
These shoes belong to Joe Kieffer, and they were custom-made by his wife Margaret. Kieffer rowed in the last Syracuse boat to make it to a Henley final, that Prince Phillip four in 1988 and--of course--he still has his 1988 competitor badge.
Uh-oh, Buckets
That pair of shoes is not the only Orange thing drawing attention: the Syracuse eight is sporting a double bucket: 4-5 and 2-3.
You can see it in the photo above, or get a better look at it here, but coach Dave Reischman told us the crew started with one bucket, but it just helped the boat go a bit straighter between the booms to add the second one on the port side. It is, he said, an unusual arrangement, but it put just enough ports toward the bow to fix the pull to the left.
Once they tried it, they couldn't go back: the guys had their best row yet with the second bucket added, so they asked the coaches to leave it in there.
1983 PE Cup Reunion
Among the row past crews was the Eton crew that won the PE Cup in 1983. The crew they beat in that final was St. Andrews School, USA, and in that crew? Our Blazer of the Day winner from Tuesday's report, Michael Atalay.
He stopped over to introduce himself to the Eton guys--and to say "you're welcome," he laughed--in another perfect only at Henley moment.
Blazer of the Day
Turns out these blazers belong to a "not boat club" of two: Matthew and Michael Reid knew they'd be headed to Henley to cheer on their brother, who rows for UVA so they did some shopping--and got, as you can see, super lucky to find these fine threads.
The cowboy hats were thanks to Matthew, who lived in Texas for a few years before moving back to Virginia.
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