Leander aim to make it four in row Prince of Wales Cup wins

FORTY-NINE boats will take to the river with a local interest for this year’s record-entry Henley Royal Regatta.

Leander Club have 20 entries at this year’s event with a further six composite crews entered as well an entry for their development crew racing as Star and Arrow.

With the Paris Olympics taking place at the end of the month, none of the Leander Team GB athletes will be taking part in this year’s event, giving way to the younger athletes in the Project LA team who are beginning their quest for the 2028 Olympics.

In the open events, Leander have an entry in the men’s eights Grand Cup while in the women’s Remenham Cup, Leander have three boats competing, one all-Leander crew and two composite entries racing as Leander and Bann Rowing Club and Leander and Imperial College London.

In the Stewards’ Cup for men’s fours, Leander will face Oxford Brookes University in a straight final on Sunday with just two crews entered for this year’s event. In the women’s four for the Town Cup, Leander have and A and B crew entered as well as a composite crew with Oxford University. Last year saw a Leander and Imperial College London crew win this event.

In the men’s quadruple sculls for the Queen Mother Cup, which saw a Leander and Nottingham Rowing Club crew take the honours last year, Leander have one entry where they will face competition from four other crews from the Netherlands, USA, Germany and Spain. In the women’s quadruple sculls for the Princess Grace Cup, again a trophy Leander won last year in a composite boat with Leicester Rowing Club, Leander have two entries.

Leander have a women’s pair competing in the Hambleden Pairs Cup while in the women’s double sculls for the Stonor Trophy, Leander have two entries as well a composite entry with Marlow Rowing Club. In the men’s double sculls, Leander have one entry for the Double Sculls Cup and one entry in the men’s singles sculls for the Diamond Sculls.

In the intermediate events, Leander have a composite crew entered in the Ladies’ Plate as they race as Leander and Club Nautique de Chambery le Bouget du Lac, France. In the Visitors’ Cup for coxless fours, Leander have two entries as well as a composite entry where they will race as Leander and Veslacki Klus Sava, Serbia.

In the Prince of Wales Cup for men’s quadruple sculls, an event that has seen holders Leander dominate with three successive wins, Leander have one entry while their development crew will also be competing racing as Star and Arrow Club.

In club events, Leander have an entry in both the Thames Cup and Wargrave Cup for men’s and women’s eights respectively and two entries in the men’s junior quadruple sculls in the Fawley Cup.

Upper Thames have eight entries as well as a composite boat competing at this year’s event.

In the open events, Upper Thames have an entry in the women’s coxless fours for the Town Challenge Cup. This crew, coached by Mark Banks, have had a good start to their summer season racing in the A final at Wallingford and finishing second at the Metropolitan Regatta while winning at the Reading Amateur Regatta. Upper Thames also has an entry in the women’s singles sculls for the Princess Royal Cup as well as a composite boat entered in the women’s coxless pairs in the Hambleden Pairs Cup where Natasha Harris-White is joined in the boat by a rower from Army Rowing Club.

In club events, Upper Thames have one entry in the Thames Cup and two in the Wargrave Cup for men’s and women’s eight respectively. The club also have two entries in the Wyfold Cup for men’s coxless fours. The Upper Thames A crew is made up of Jordan Pepermans, Oli Ayres, Tim Grant and Steve Griffiths and coached by Dave Lister. Upper Thames also have one entry in the Britannia Cup for men’s coxed fours.

Henley Rowing Club has five crews and one composite crew competing across six events.

In the Prince of Wales Cup, the crew of Mike Lambourn, Tom Jost, Nick Friend and Richard Ellera have a vast range of experience between them including a win at the Thames Cup, elite wins at Marlow Regatta as well as gaining GB sculling vests at Coupe de la Jeunesse. Between them they have appeared in 39 Henley Royal Regattas where they have competed in eight finals.

The Henley crew entered in the Wyfold Cup is made up of R Kennedy, Robbie Mcgow, Elliot Cole and James Padmore. Cole, Padmore and Kennedy were part of the “Dad’s Army” crew that made up the club’s Thames Cup entry last year, with the boat having an average age of 42. Cole, Padmore and Mcgow won the masters C category at the head of the river race earlier this year.

Henley have one entry in the Wargrave Cup while a junior 18 eight will compete in the Prince Phillip Trophy. The crew will be made up with cox Ella Dickson (18), stroke Abi Smith (18), Freya Weiser (18), Tabbie Hall (18), Emily Simmons (18), Chloe Hudges (16), Lilya Wild (17), Emma Eltze (18) and Gwennie Hunter (17). Within this crew, there are five members of the boat who competed at last year’s event where they reached Friday’s racing. Weiser raced in the Diamond Jubilee Cup, making it to the Saturday. Smith (gold) and Simmons (silver) picked up medals when they represented GB at Coupe de la Jeunesse in Amsterdam last year while seven of the athletes represented GB in the GB versus France match at U16 level.

Henley’s Fawley Cup entry is made up of Monty French at stroke, Kit Daly, Henry Could and Louis Bolton. French reached the A final at the GB U19 trials while Bolton appeared in this event last year. In the Visitors’ Cup, Henley have a composite entry along with Drammen Roklubb, Norway. Shiplake College have five crews entered in as many events.

In the Temple Cup for student eights, the crew is made up of Ed Galer, Jack Duggan, Finlay Rhs Jones, William Harper, Isaac Dean, Joshua Barnes, Henry Day Clark and Ben Brooks while the Princess Elizabeth Cup crew consists of Kai Crithcly, Tomos Weighell, William Tavinor, Archie Heading, Oliver Bennett, Rupert Evans, D Wilson and Edward Houghton. The other Shiplake men’s crew of Oliver Nash, Johannes Meiswinkel, Calln Wallis and Oliver Smee will compete in the Fawley Cup.

In the women’s events, Shiplake have A Merrit, Sophia Foreman, Amelie Parker, Emily Downing, Amelia Westbrook, Lara Vahle, Katie Proudlove and Emily Over competing in the Prince Phillip Cup for junior women’s eights while Florence Dallas, Elisabeth Flieger, Sophia McDavid and Eva Rootkin-Gray will compete in the Diamond Jubilee Cup for women’s quadruple sculls.

Sonning’s Reading Blue Coat School have two entries in the Temple Cup and Princess Elizabeth Cup.

Qualifying races will get under way this afternoon (Friday) with the six-day regatta starting on Tuesday.