‘Don’t let yourselves down’, says new chairman

DOZENS of crews sat in anticipation as they awaited their fate during the annual regatta draw held at Henley town hall on Saturday.

Richard Phelps, the new chairman of the regatta, drew numbers out of the Grand Challenge Cup to decide which crews will face each other across 27 events.

It is the 185th time the draw, which was held in the Queen Elizabeth II hall, has taken place.

Mr Phelps congratulated all the crews that had qualified for this year’s event before the draw.

He said: “No one is entitled to race at Henley, you have to earn the right and you have all earned the right to race down this famous course.

“Many, many generations of rowers have sat where you are now with the same excited anticipation or maybe dread.

“Either way, welcome to the magic of the draw and take this moment to appreciate that you are adding to the history of this famous event.”

Mr Phelps said he wanted to remind crews of the values of the event, including sporting behaviour. He said: “Your every action on the water will be covered by camera and potentially broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people live.

“Don’t let yourself, your club, or us all down.”

He thanked Mayor Tom Buckley for the use of the space, joking that he hoped it might have air conditioning one day.

The draw went smoothly, apart from when Kew House School was called out versus Harvard University “A” in the Temple Challenge Cup, despite not qualifying for the event.

A correction was made and the University of London was selected after it was realised that Mr Phelps had mistakenly called out “148” instead of “184” as written on the chip. “It’s always good to stay awake,” Mr Phelps joked, “including the chair.”

He added, “Apologies to those in Kew House who briefly thought they had made it into the event.”

Former regatta chairman Mike Sweeney assisted with the draw by placing the crew names into the cup before they were drawn out.

Mr Sweeney said the attendance for the draw was still recovering from covid when the event was only streamed online. He said: “In 2020 we did it online in the chairman’s office and in 2021 the regatta was cancelled.

“In 2022 we started again but covid was still around so numbers were limited and the chairs were 2m apart. We are slowly getting back to offering everybody the opportunity to come to the draw.”