Triumph and heartache in a week of spectacular rowing

LEANDER CLUB picked up four wins at this year’s record-breaking Henley Royal Regatta.

Their athletes triumphed in the Grand Challenge Cup, Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, Remenham Challenge Cup and Ladies’ Challenge Plate.

But Leander also suffered heartbreak on Sunday when their crews were beaten in the Hambleden Pairs, Wargrave Challenge Cup and Stewards’ Challenge Trophy.

Great Britain’s top pair of Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George, who is also a member of Leander, raced as Cambridge University and were beaten in the final of the Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Trophy.

This year’s regatta, which ran for six days for the first time, featured a record overseas entry with new names from the USA, Australia, China and New Zealand and all winning races.

Leander picked up their first win in the Prince of Wales with a commanding win over Reading University “A”.

They were one-and-a-quarter lengths up at the Barrier before stretching the lead to more than five lengths and never looked like being caught.

Leander won “easily” to retain the tile they won last year, in a time of six minutes and 35 seconds.

Oliver Costley, in the number two seat, said: “It feels amazing to defend our title. I think we executed our best race of the week, we were very happy with it.”

Bryn Ellery, in the number three seat, added: “I was just on the bank last year so it feels really good, so fulfilling.

“You never quite believe it until you cross the line. All the way you are just thinking, don’t mess it up, keep it clean, keep it tidy. You have just got to get across the line first.”

In the Hambleden Pairs, Leander’s Annie Campbell-Orde and Sophia Heath lost out “easily” to Jessica Morrison and Meghan Musnicki, of California Rowing Club, USA.

The USA-Australian pair were two-and-a-half lengths up at the Barrier and the Olympians kept stretching their lead, crossing the finish line in seven minutes and 59 seconds.

In the Wargrave event, Thames Rowing Club overcame Leander Club and gained revenge for their defeat in last year’s inaugural competition by smashing every record along the course.

Thames were one-and-a-quarter lengths up at the Barrier in two minutes, a record by three seconds, and reached Fawley in three minutes and 23 seconds, a record by four seconds.

They followed this with a strong second half to win by one and three-quarter lengths in a time of seven minutes and six seconds – beating the previous record by 12 seconds.

In the Stewards’ Australia’s Olympic gold medallists beat Great Britain in one of the closest races in the regatta’s 183-year history.

Rowing Australia were up by three-quarters of a length at the Barrier over the Oxford Brookes and Leander composite but the Brits fought back down the regatta enclosures in the final few hundred meters and kept closing before they ran out of water and lost out by 1ft following a photo finish after six minutes and 26 seconds.

Will Stewart, the only Leander member in the boat, said: “Their boat has three of the Olympians who won gold last year, so we knew we had to go very strong and do our rhythm.

“At the end of the day we gave all we could. It’s obviously gutting to lose but we gave as much as we could there.”

Great Britain’s new women’s eight, the Imperial College, London, and Leander Club composite, came from behind to defeat Rowing Australia in the Remenham cup.

The Brits featured a combination that won in 2014 and were runner’s up in 2015 and 2019 but were making their debut as an eight at Henley.

They were a length down at the Barrier but then they put in a huge push just before Remenham Club and continued to power through the second part of the race as they left Australia behind to win by one-and-a-third lengths in a time of six minutes and 37 seconds.

Sarah Redgrave, who also won last year’s event, said: “I think our plan went well.

“We knew that the Aussies were going to be good, and we knew going in that the competition was going to be tough and each race was going to bring a new challenge.

“We were down from the start and we brought it back in the middle, as soon as we could see we could bring it back that momentum we went with.”

The Great Britain men’s eight, racing as Oxford Brookes University and Leander Club, also beat Rowing Australia, in the Grand.

The crews were evenly matched at the start but then the Brits, who started the race as favourites, took a three-quarter length lead at the Barrier which was stretched to two lengths at the Mile mark.

They crossed the line in five minutes and 56 seconds, winning by two and three-quarter lengths.

Leander then won the Ladies’ Challenge Plate for the first time since 2016, by beating the favourites, University of California, Berkeley.

They led the Golden Bears from start to finish and were half a length up at the Barrier, which was extended along the course. They crossed the line a length in front in six minutes and four seconds.

Coxswain Will Le Brocq said: “We were discussing different scenarios, we could have been up we could have been down, but what we said was both crews will have a good start but our rhythm when we are relaxed is so good, so the aim was to hit that rhythm.

“To be honest I don’t really feel the outcome so much I am just still in the mindset of just doing the race.”

In the Goblets, Wynne-Griffith and George, who were part of the Cambridge eight in the Boat Race this year and the Olympic bronze medal-winning boat in Tokyo, led for most of the race.

But New Zealand pair Matt Macdonald and Tom Mackintosh, racing at Waiariki Rowing Club and part of the gold medal-winning eight in Tokyo, turned the race round after suffering a steering issue in the opening stages.

In the end, the visitors won by two-thirds of a length in seven minutes and three seconds.

George, said: “We wanted to take it out hard. We did that pretty well, we settled into our pace well.

“We are learning, we are still pretty new to it so learning where to put the boot in and where to sit on top of it and row well. I am really proud of that.”

Other local crews suffered semi-final heartbreak on Saturday.

Shiplake College could not replicate last year’s success in the Diamond Jubilee Cup – the first full Shiplake crew to win a medal at the regatta and the first time a women’s crew ever competed for the college.

This year’s crew were defeated by Claires Court School by half a length in seven minutes and 45 seconds.

In wet conditions, Shiplake started with a half-length lead but this was overturned after the Fawley mark and they could not close the gap.

Henley Rowing Club were knocked out of the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy by Winter Park Crew, USA.

The home crew fell behind following a tight start and were one length behind at the Mile mark.

Henley looked to stage a comeback and reduced the gap to two-thirds of a length at the Regatta Enclosure and then half a length at the progress boards.

But it was too little too late as Winter Park crossed the line half a length ahead in eight minutes and five seconds.

Chris Boothroyd, vice-president and coach at Henley Rowing Club, said: “They did really well, especially as they were going up against the number one rowing team in the country.

“They stuck to their race plan and pushed them right to the line but it just wasn’t to be.

“We went into the race thinking we could win, so I can imagine they’ll be quite annoyed. This is nine-months of work, and to come away without a medal is disappointing.

“But I still think they can be really proud of what they achieved.”

On Friday last week, Upper Thames Rowing Club were knocked out of this year’s regatta when its Wyfold Challenge Cup crew were beaten by NSR Oslo, Norway, by a canvas in seven minutes and 10 seconds.