Henley Royal Regatta Chairman Sir Steve Redgrave has today announced the broadcast presentation and commentary team for this year's Regatta Henley Royal Regatta 2015 - the first Henley to be televised live since 1968.
Olympic medallists Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sarah Winckless will be managing the team which includes a quintet of lead commentators who will inform and engage the You Tube audience from 1-5 July with more than 250 races going out live in High Definition from a 10-camera production.
Peter Drury, of ITV football and Boat Race commentary renown, and Garry Herbert, Olympic gold medallist and lead BBC Sport rowing commentator since 1998, will be joined by Martin Cross, FISA and BBC commentator and Olympic gold medallist as well as BBC Berkshire's Tim Dellor.
Winckless and Pinsent will also be an important part of the commentary and presenting teams respectively. Both have broadcast experience as well as their rowing expertise.
Many of the Stewards of the world-famous Regatta will play their part as co-commentators in a line-up which includes Olympians Greg and Jonny Searle, Katherine Grainger, Mark Hunter, Tom James, Cath Bishop, Annie Vernon, Alex Partridge, Guin Batten and Alison Mowbray.
Sunset + Vine, the multi-award winning independent TV sports production and media company, is providing production services to the Regatta which will include live coverage of every race across the five day event with daily highlights packages, a video on demand service and content provided to broadcasters globally.
The line-up also includes experienced commentators from Regatta Radio as well as Camilla Hammond who has experience commentating at Henley Women's Regatta and the British University Championships.
Redgrave said: "We've worked hard to put a commentary team together to reflect the full range of Henley's events. A high quality field whether you are in the Open, University, Club or Junior events."
The Regatta, founded in 1839, is the best-known rowing regatta in the world, and is one of the highlights of the summer sporting calendar in the UK, as well as the rowing calendar internationally. It attracts 300,000 visitors over a five-day period.
A global audience will now have a close-up view of event which is renowned for its gladiatorial two-boat races.
The Regatta, which features events for emerging, young rowers as well as established Olympic and world medallists, was last broadcast live in 1968 by the BBC, and highlights of the Regatta were last shown on television by ITV in 1976.
The Committee of Management of the Regatta has been encouraged to re-introduce live coverage in 2015 as a result of advances in production and streaming technology, and strong growth in the appeal of the sport globally has created a wider audience for the Regatta.
Sir Steve Redgrave, Chairman of the Royal Regatta, said: "This is a very exciting project in my first year as Chairman. I picked up the baton from my predecessor Mike Sweeney who initiated the project, which is now being led by fellow Regatta Stewards, Neil Chugani and Sir Matthew Pinsent."
"We have a small team that is now working hard with Sunset + Vine to produce a quality product which will bring the passion and excitement of Henley to a new audience".
Jeff Foulser, chairman of Sunset+Vine, commented: "We are delighted to have teamed up with Henley Royal Regatta to produce live broadcast coverage of this fantastic sporting event for the first time since 1968. There are not many opportunities to work with such an established, prestigious and well-known sporting event, which still offers a relatively blank canvas in broadcasting terms.
"This is hugely exciting, and we look forward to producing creative and innovative coverage of the events that can help bring the uniquely special experience of racing and spectating at the Regatta to a much wider audience around the world."
Preview films can now be viewed at Henley Royal Regatta Official YouTube channel with more information on the broadcast available here.