Welcome home for Team GB rowers

HENLEY will welcome back its Olympic heroes tomorrow (Saturday).

Thousands of people are expected to line the streets as the athletes are taken on an open-top bus parade through the town, followed by a reception at the town hall.

Leander rowers returned home from Paris with three golds, two silvers and three bronzes, making 21 medallists and bringing the club’s total of Olympic medals to 159.

The result was Team GB’s most successful since London 2012 and they were pipped to top spot in the rowing medals table by the Netherlands.

Leander medal winners attending will be Olly Wynne-Griffith, Becky Wilde, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave, Tom Barras, Lola Anderson, Jacob Dawson, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, Henry Fieldman and Erin Kennedy.

They will be joined by Olympians and Paralympians from other clubs but train locally, including Emily Craig,  James Rudkin, Harry Brightmore, Matt Aldridge, Ollie Wilkes and Ben Pritchard.

Starting at 9.30am, there will be a row-past which will depart from Leander Club before travelling under Henley Bridge to the bottom of Rod Eyot island and back before boarding a double-decker bus at 11.15am.

The parade will then go from the club, over Henley Bridge, then along Hart Street, Bell Street, New Street, Thames Side and Hart Street, finishing outside the town hall in Market Place at around 11.55am.

Along the route, marshalls will hand out chocolate medals and flags.

After interacting with the crowds, the rowers will gather on the town hall steps where they will be congratulated by Mayor Rory Hunt, who will deliver a speech. Leander Club captain Lola Anderson, who won gold in the women’s quad sculls, is expected to speak on behalf of her fellow Team GB athletes and express her appreciation of the support from the town. The rowers will then walk through an arch of oars held by members of local rowing clubs, including Henley Rowing Club and Upper Thames Rowing Club before posing for photos with spectators and signing autographs.

At 12.30pm, the athletes will board the bus again and return to Leander for a private reception.

Market Place will be closed from 9am to 1pm on the day for the safety of the public. There will be rolling road closures along the parade route from 11.10am to noon.

Three years ago, following the delayed Tokyo Games which was delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was a parade at which the rowers described Henley as the “home of rowing”.