Henley Royal Regatta 2023: Day 1

THOUSANDS of visitors will arrive in Henley today (Tuesday) for the start of this year’s royal regatta.

More than 300,000 are expected to visit the town during the annual event, which runs until Sunday.

Almost 400 races will be held across 26 events following the second highest number of entries in the regatta’s 184-year history.

Today, crews from Henley Rowing Club, Leander Club, Upper Thames Rowing Club, Shiplake College and Reading Blue Coat School in Sonning will take to the water.

The regatta draw took place on Saturday at the town hall, which featured a field of 420 crews from 17 nations as well as a host of Olympic and world championship athletes.

Sir Steve Redgrave, who chairs the regatta’s committee of management, said: “There is no such thing as an easy draw at Henley.

“The depth in quality is immense and the crews will feel the increase in pressure every day they stay in the regatta.

“Traditionally, we have ‘selected’ certain crews in the draw for a number of the events. The purpose of this is to achieve the fairest and most satisfactory racing programme.

“Crews may be ‘selected’ because we believe them to be the fastest in their event, or because we wish to keep apart overseas crews from the same club or country, or for other similar reasons.

“You don’t know who is going to win, but what you do know is that crews are not going to travel all the way around the world unless they believe they are going to be pretty quick - we’re just not sure what pretty quick means yet.”

Sun and light rain showers are expected over the six-day regatta with temperatures in the early twenties.

As usual, there will be a strong police presence with a mixture of neighbourhood and specialist teams, including mounted and marine units. For the first time, police drones will also be deployed for the duration of the event.

Along Fawley Meadows, there will be a picnic enclosure, restaurant and lounge playing live music.

Prizegiving will take place at the end of finals with a procession led by previous winners of the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager from the Company of Watermen and Lightermen.

Businesses in the town have been preparing for the influx of visitors by setting up themed window displays and preparing merchandise.

Meanwhile, Thames Side will be closed from its junction with Hart Street and Friday Street to allow for passengers to walk safely from Henley station to the regatta site.

The intermittent closures will take place from 9am to 11pm from today to Sunday and last about 10 minutes.

A diversion route will be in place using the following: Henley Bridge, Hart Street, Market Place, Gravel Hill, Paradise Road, Deanfield Avenue, Greys Road, Reading Road and Station Road.

Today’s racing programme for Henley crews is as follows:

9am, Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, Strathclyde Park RC and Leander Club v Leander Club.

10.30am, Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, Green Lake, USA, v Shiplake College

11.15am, Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, Great Marlow School v Shiplake College A

4.10pm, Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, Emanuel School v Reading Blue Coat School

6.40pm, Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, Surbiton High School v Shiplake College B

7pm, Fawley Challenge Cup, Shiplake College v Leander Club B

7.05pm, Wyfold Challenge Cup, Upper Thames RC v Monmouth RC

This page will be updated throughout the day with results and reaction.

Picture: the Shiplake College boys’ A quad, which is competing in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup for quadruple sculls.