Headline Regatta records safe with windy weather

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OVERCAST and slightly blustery conditions meant it was a challenging start for rowers competing at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta.

Winds reached up to 10mph on Tuesday, making steering tricky for crews making their way up the 2,112m course.

Despite the dull weather, which produced spots of rain on Wednesday, the riverbank was a riot of colour as thousands of visitors arrived wearing bright club blazers.

The majority of women wore long floral dresses with an array of hats and fascinators, even though the dress code was relaxed two years ago to allow them to wear trousers.

Temperatures are expected to stay around 21C and the Met Office says it will remain cloudy with sunny intervals for the rest of the 184th regatta, which ends on Sunday. Sir Steve Redgrave, chairman of the regatta, said the conditions were tough for the competitors.

He said: “The rowers probably wouldn’t have liked the river conditions. The wind is blowing downstream. Wind against the way you’re racing makes the races a little bit slower and crews don’t like that, they like fast races.”

Police patrolled the town centre along the river in a boat while other boats paraded beside the course.

On the banks, either side of the course people had picnics and champagne. Maggie Atkinson, of Queen Street, Henley, brought back her “floating lawn”, a colourful raft made from two canoes lashed together which she has been taking to the regatta with her husband, Ed, for more than 20 years.

The “lawn” was decorated with flowers, artificial turf and ornate chairs with Ukrainian refugees enjoying a picnic as they floated
down the river.

In the stewards’ enclosure, the British Imperial Military Band performed big band classics for five hours a day without repeating a song, conducted by Paul Goodwin MBE.

The band has been performing in the enclosure for 11 years, only skipping due to the coronavirus pandemic, and comprises entirely
ex-military professionals.

Egon Spengler, of St Mark’s Road, Henley, enjoyed a pint with his friend Shirl Musselle. They rowed together at Bedford Rowing Club and said they had come to meet friends.

Mr Spengler, 49, said: “It’s perfect. I sit in the sun and all my friends from different places come to me. We also get to see first-class rowing. As it happens, quite a few of the competitors are now children of my friends too, so I get to spot them as they go by.”

John Coleman, 89, from Emmer Green, returned this year to signal for the races, something he has been doing for the past 35 years. He began rowing at Christ Church College, Oxford.

He said: “I’m on different races on the course for five days. I like the atmosphere.”

Extinction Rebellion protesters carried a banner saying: “We’re up s*** creek” in order to highlight river pollution, in particular the dumping of sewage by water companies into rivers.

Lin Rolfe and Kate Fenn dressed in poo costumes and also walked around the town carrying the banner.

Sir Steve said that the weather for the rest of the regatta meant it was unlikely any course records would be broken this year.

He said: “People like trying to break records but on the forecast we’re getting, I don’t think the wind is changing round. It would have to blow from the opposite direction, which is very unusual on the Henley course.”

Sir Steve said the competition was adapting and modernising to become more inclusive.

On Tuesday, Llandaff Rowing Club became the first club crew to contest the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, which is for junior men’s eights. The rule change this year opened up the event for the first time to clubs as well as schools.

Sir Steve said: “We’re adaptable. We evolve to what we think the event and the sport needs. The Princess Elizabeth Cup was introduced in 1946 and that was a private school’s event but in those days there were a few clubs, a host of universities and a lot of private schoolboy schools so only they used to row.

“I went to Great Marlow School, where they only started rowing 50 years ago and they’ve only been good enough to race at the regatta the last three or four years. I would have loved as a schoolkid to have been able to race here but we didn’t have enough rowers and wouldn’t have had that opportunity.

“Because there are so many people across the country and world that do row now, we created junior events — Fawley, Diamond Jubilee and Prince Phillip. At some stage, Princess Elizabeth needed to come in line with what modern rowing is about. That’s what we’ve done this year.

“You’ll see people walking around in their blazers from their schools or clubs or through universities, or they’ll wear a different blazer each day. Some will even change blazer during the day. Its recognising where they’ve come from and they’ll have different days.

“It’s the week of rowers getting back together and celebrating. And when they come back and celebrate, they eat and drink but they will also support their school, club, university and make sure they watch them. They’re not really coming for the watching; they’re coming to remember what they used to do. And that’s how the enclosure tends to work. If we don’t have them coming and paying their membership, we can’t afford to put this expensive infrastructure in.”

Sir Steve said he had high hopes for the British crews.

He said: “The British team is here in force and the women will probably win all the open events. In the Prince Phillip women’s eights, we have four really outstanding crews and that will be some cracking racing.

“For the open events, we have the Polish reigning world and Olympic champions and if they both get through semi-finals, they’re racing the British quad which was fourth at the European championships when the Poles won. It’s the Brits’ home water and home town for most of them and they feel they will give the Polish crew a run for their money.”