Leander athletes dominate GB boats in search of trophies

THERE will be a local interest in more than 50 of the 768 crews entered at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta, which has attracted a record number of domestic entries.

Many of the crews will be battling it out today (Friday) in the qualifying races with the six-day regatta getting underway on Tuesday.

Leander lead the way with the most entries with local interest while Henley Rowing Club, Upper Thames, Shiplake College and Reading Blue Coat School will also be battling it out for silverware. The Oratory School have not entered any crews this year.

Leander has 25 crews and composite entered. In the premier open events, Leander have a strong entry with many of the crews having competed for Great Britain.

A Leander composite crew with Oxford Brookes University — the current Great Britain senior crew — will compete in the Grand Challenge Cup for men’s eights. Fresh off wins at both the Europeans and World Cup they will be aiming to secure victory on home water against Australia, the Netherlands and Cambridge.

Leander has five women in the GB senior women’s crew entered as Molesey Boat Club and Leander in the Remenham Challenge Cup for women’s eights. Victories at both European and World Cups make them the favourites and they will be looking to add a Henley win to their already successful season.

The senior men’s four for GB, racing as Leander and Oxford Brooke, will compete in the Stewards’ Challenge Cup. From European to World Cups the crew have made big steps in boat speed and will be one of the leading contenders in the event that has just three entries.

In the women’s fours for the Town Challenge Cup, Leander have four entries, with the composite crew of Leander and Reading University being the GB four. Olympic bronze medallists Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart and Heidi Long are joined by Daisy Bellamy as they take on leading Dutch and Australian crews.

The second Leander composite crew is an up-and-coming U23 crew while the two full Leander crews are club-based women who will be competing in the qualifiers.

A Leander and Nottingham Rowing Club composite will compete for GB in the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for quadruple sculls. The crew has had success at both European and World Cups this season as they look to defend their trophy. Stroke seat Rory Harris is no stranger to this course having won multiple times in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup.

The Leander women’s sculling squad this year has been strong this season and as a result lead athletes have made their step into the British Senior team. This crew challenging in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup for quadruple sculls, stroked by Danni Price-Hughes, is newly formed. An injury on training camp has meant that Katie Mole will not be racing but Amelia Hempleman-Adams will take her place fresh off her A-final performance against Olympic Champion Imogen Grant at last weekend’s Henley Women’s Regatta.

In the Double Sculls Challenge Cup, Leander have two club-based crews competing in Jones and Ellery and Lomas and Clack who will be competing in the qualifying races. The third Leander entry is the current GB men’s double of Gare and Schroeder who will be looking to build on their international race experience so far this season.

In the Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup for women’s pairs, Juliette Perry and Lizzie Wit have been progressed into the national team set-up via the development programme at Leander. This season Perry has raced in both the European Championships and World Cup coming away with a gold medal in the women’s eight at both events. This crew has yet to race as a pair.

Leander athletes will be competing in three intermediate events.

In the Ladies’ Challenge Plate, Leander have been slowly building a men’s eight crew for this event. They raced at the Met Regatta finishing in second place behind the Cambridge crew.

Leander have two crews entered in the Bridge Challenge Plate for women’s intermediate eights, a new event this year.

The lead boat is a composite crew with both the University of London and Durham University. All athletes in this boat are on the development pathway and will be looking to make their mark on the senior team for LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

The second crew is made up of athletes who have returned from their US universities.

The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup for men’s quads is an event where the Leander men have had much success over recent years. Returning to the crew and bringing their experience are Jack Keating and Oliver Costley and joining them is Jamie Hinton-Daniels. Dominic Fredericko from Mercantile completes this line-up.

In club events, Leander have “The Cuppies” as they are known at the club, competing in the men’s eights for the Thames Challenge Cup. This crew joined on the gap year programme before taking on their university careers starting in September 2025.

The women’s club eight for the Wargrave Challenge Cup has seen competition at Leander fierce throughout the season which has made selection for the coaches difficult. The crew was formed early in the season and demonstrated good speed at the women’s eights Head of the River coming away with a top 10 finish.

In the junior events, Leander have two entries in the men’s quads for the Fawley Challenge Cup. This event has attracted a record number of 73 crews entered this year.

Henley rowing Club have crews competing at the regatta.

Henley’s junior women’s crew will compete in the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy. Seven athletes from this boat formed part of the Women’s Head of the River crew that placed fourth overall, finishing just 10 seconds behind Shiplake College. The crew also took silver in the WJ18 eights at Wallingford Regatta and boasts three rowers from the victorious J16 eight that stormed to a five-second win at National Schools’ Regatta. The Henley boat will be made up of Jemima Butterworth, Lilian Graham, Molly Hall, Grace Haldane, Sophie Floyd, Nicolette Pagdin, Evie Meeks, Scarlett Hyde and coxed by Elise Pindoria.

In the junior women’s quadruple sculls for the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, Henley have a crew entered made up of Jess Mack, Isabelle Hughes, Chloe Hughes and Charlotte Tong.

This crew includes one Coupe de la Jeunesse representative and three athletes ranked in the top 25 at GB trials. The quad has already impressed on the circuit with back-to-back silver medals at both the Junior Sculling Head and Junior Sculling Regatta.

A seasoned Henley Masters contingent will compete in the men’s club four for the Wyfold Challenge Cup. This crew of Robert McGow, Daniel Watson, James Padmore and Elliot Cole won the Masters C8 at the Head of the River Race earlier this season, while the pair of Padmore and Cole took bronze in the coxless pair at the British Masters Championships.

Henley have an experienced men’s quad entered in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup. The crew of Mike Lambourn, Jack Barrett, Tom Jost and Richard Ellera secured an impressive domestic triple crown with wins in the Masters B quads at Henley Masters Regatta, the Masters Head of the River Race and the British Masters Championships.

In the Bridge Challenge Cup for women’s intermediate eights, Charlotte O’Connell will represent Henley in a composite entry with Thames Rowing Club.

Upper Thames has 40 athletes (including coxswains) entered across eight different events.

Through hard work over the season 17 athletes have already been pre-qualified and will start racing on Tuesday. This leaves 23 athletes to race a time trial against hundreds of other crews today.

Upper Thames have pre-qualified crews in the Wargrave Challenge Cup, Wyfold Challenge Cup, Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup, Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup and Olympic champion and Henley Women’s Regatta single sculler Imogen Grant in the Princess Royal Challenge Cup.

This will leave crews from Upper Thames having to qualify in the Stonor Challenge Trophy, Double Sculls Challenge Cup, two further crews in the Wyfold Challenge Cup, Wargrave Challenge Cup, Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup and Diamond Challenge Sculls.

The Upper Thames squad has enjoyed a full season on the water with only a short interruption due to flooding and they made the most of the training camp in Seville, Spain, last month.

Upper Thames are helped by a strong team of volunteer coaches, including Mark Banks, David Lister, Matthew Griffiths, Jenny Rachel, Nick Horne, Steve Griffiths and Clare Forgie.

Shiplake College will have six crews competing at the regatta.

The junior eight of Ed Galer, Oliver Nash, Finlay Rhys-Jones, William Harper, Luca Hunt-Davis, Henry Day Clark, Joshua Barnes, Isaac Dean and cox Ben Loggie will compete in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup while Ava Lowe, Freya Smith, Alice Knight, Annunciata Ings, Katie Proudlove, Eva Rootkin-Gray, Amelia Westbrook, Alice Dargue, and cox Charlotte Hodgkinson will compete in the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy for junior women’s eights.

Shiplake College have two crews entered in both the Fawley Challenge Cup for junior quadruple sculls and Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup for junior women’s quadruple sculls.

In the Fawley Challenge Cup, Aston Phillips, Tomos Weighell, Otto Berg de Kerangal and Rupert Evans will compete as Shiplake College A while D Wilson, Zac Powell, William Tavinor and Kai Critchley will represent Shiplake College B.

Abby Hutton, Tilly Foreman, Felicity Hudson and Florence Dallas will be in the Shiplake College A boat in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup with Bethan Thompson, Honor Fackrell, L Fiddy and Lucy Green competing as Shiplake College B.

Sonning’s Reading Blue Coat has four crews entered. They will compete in the Temple Challenge Cup for student eights, Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for junior, Fawley Challenge Cup for junior quads and Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup for junior women’s quads.