HENLEY Rowing Club’s 2009 season started with the senior men’s and women’s squads leaving the cold January weather behind for their annual winter training camp in Seville.

A total of 40 athletes and coaches spent the following 10 days training at the Andalucian Rowing Centre. This was the third year running that the club has visited Seville and on both previous occasions the senior squads achieved much improved performances in the Head of the River races and the subsequent regatta season.

At the Henley Fours and Eights Head in February Henley achieved success with the senior men, senior women, junior boys and junior girls all recording wins.

Next up was the Reading University Eights Head where an experimental line-up of a Thames Cup eligible crew competed. The performance showed the squad had moved in the right direction with both the first and second eights closing up on rival crews such as Agecroft and Oxford Brookes to within a few seconds.

Henley’s senior women’s eight were the fifth fastest women’s eight overall. This was the highest ever place for Henley women at Reading University Head.

The second week of March saw the senior men’s eight take part in the Hammersmith Head. Racing from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge, Henley not only won the elite race but the overall headship as well. At the end of March, hearalding the end of the winter season, was the Head of the River Race on the Tideway. The result of the first eight was one of best for many years considering the number of international crews competing.

The crews ahead of them contained many Olympians from both the UK and overseas. Henley RC’s result made them among the fastest club crews eligible for the club events at Henley Royal Regatta, covering the course in 18 minutes and 30 seconds and finishing 28th overall.

Henley’s senior men and women then competed at Ghent International Regatta against opposition from Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK. With a total of two gold, four silver and one bronze medals over the two days of competition, this was by far the best ever performance by the club at this level.

The first weekend of June saw the Metropolitan Regatta held over two days at Dorney, providing the best test yet for Henley crews training for Henley Women’s Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta.

The women’s double of Bethan Thomas and Rachel Willis once again proved to be the best club crew in the UK, coming second in the senior event to a very strong composite crew from Australia and Britain.

The men’s eight had to row both the heat and final of the senior event in an unfavoured lane on the same day and produced an excellent row in the final to push the Irish international crew from Galway to less than a third of a length lead while missing out by one foot to London RC for second place. This was a satisfactory performance and coach Ian Desmond was happy with the decision to select the eight for his top boat at Henley Royal Regatta.

However it was the coxed four of Robert Barnes, Stephen Power, Nick Lowry, Connor Stroke and cox Theo Millward competing in the new intermediate event that added to the club’s silverware by winning both their heat and final with ease.

For Henley Royal Regatta the club has entered numerous crews and composites. The flagship eight is entered in the Thames Cup with a further two coxed fours in the Britannia Cup and a coxless four in the Wyfold Cup. Sean Meehan has entered the Diamond Sculls.

In addition, Henley has entered a composite quad with Reading RC, a composite Fawley Cup quad with Henley’s Tom Hope, a composite Ladies’ Plate with London RC and further Ladies’ Plate composite with the University of the West of England.

Sponsors World Advertising Research Center and Spratley Studios, a firm of architects, have helped the club’s progress and without their invaluable support a lot of what the club has been able to achieve in recent years would not have been possible. The club will be building a new purpose-made gymnasium in time for the coming winter training.

The new building will incorporate an extension to the women’s changing facilities and will release space intended as a function room to enable the club to expand the social side.

Henley Rowing Club focuses a lot of time in developing junior rowing. It has 11 dedicated junior coaches with over 70 active junior athletes. Boys and girls start at 13 or 14 and are introduced gently to the demands that rowing will place upon them.

The club works closely with local schools, such as the Piggott School in Wargrave and Gillotts School in Henley which now offer students the opportunity to learn a skill.

Anyone interested in starting to row at Henley Rowing Club should email Bill Lambourn at beginners@henleyrowingclub.info

Adrian Lake

THE ORATORY School Boat Club have entered their first eight into Henley Royal Regatta, arriving as their season continues its upward curve, with a team that has an outstanding rowing pedigree.

The crew from the boys’ day-boarding school in Woodcote is stroked by Oscar Richmond from Peppard whose brother Max won a gold medal with the Great Britain Coupe de la Jeuness eight last summer.

Other crew members are also following in family footsteps, with Adam Anker following his brother Mathew, who rowed in the Oratory eight and the coxless pair at the junior world championships in Beijing. Toby Hiscox aims to emulate his brother Aaron, who is now captain of boats at St Andrew’s University. The Oratory School captain of boats, Rupert Olszowski, also follows in the line of an Oratory rowing family. Earlier this season, the crew showed excellent fighting spirit at Nottingham City Regatta, where a photo finish showed that Cardiff University had just beaten Oratory School by one-tenth of a second in the final of the novice eights.

The crew went back to training realising they could compete and win with the right preparation. Training saw big improvements from the crew and adjustments to the technical approach has seen the boat speed increasing.

At Bedford Regatta they lost by a few feet to Winchester College, a result the Oratory School turned around a few weeks later at the National Schools Regatta. Oratory qualified for the semi-final beating Winchester College and Reading Blue Coat. They missed out on making the final but had an good race alongside Tiffin and Canford School.

This experience has seen crew moral raised and expectations rising. The Oratory is on an upward trajectory as they look forward to competing at Henley Royal Regatta.

Other competitions have brought several memorable races for the squad. They competed at Hampton head, Reading University head and at the Schools Head of the River Race, showing a steady improvement in fitness which prepared them well for the Men’s Head of the River Race, where they finished 34th out of 85 senior 4 eights.

Dawn Chamarette

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Published on 29 June 2009 by the Henley Standard, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.