Shiplake make splash at record-breaking regatta

SHIPLAKE College made history at last Sunday’s Henley Royal Regatta when they won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for the first time.

Seven local crews, Leander Club and Shiplake College were vying for medals on the final day of the event where 16 records were broken.

Shiplake College went into the final day in contention for both the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy for junior women’s eights and the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for junior men’s eights.

The boys’ crew were successful in the final against Radley College but the girls were beaten by Headington School, which set a new course record in the process.

Leander Club had six crews in the finals, of which four were composites and took home three titles — down from one last year.

The Shiplake College men’s junior open eight beat Radley College on Sunday by one length in a time of six minutes and seven seconds. The same crew made it to the final last year but were beaten by St Paul’s School in a time of six minutes and 46 seconds. This time around they prevailed against them in the semi-final on Saturday to make the final.

Hundreds of friends, family and staff members huddled on the path outside the boat tents dressed in their maroon, black and gold striped blazers.

They chanted and clapped as they walked out of the tent as the crew members held their heads down to stay focused.

After their successful row, the boys celebrated by throwing cox Ben Loggie into the river from the pontoon before the rest jumped in to celebrate by splashing about in the water.

Luca Hunt Davis, son of Ben who rowed in the same crew in 1989, said he was scared Radley might beat them approaching the finish line.

He said: “It feels like Radley were coming back so much faster and I was terrified. For the last five strokes I was like ‘they’re going to win’.

“I have never heard anything louder in my life. Everyone’s friends and family are all ecstatic, it was so amazing. When you’re that happy you can’t feel anything but that — I didn’t feel the pain.

“I saw my dad with a lot of tears in his eyes. He didn’t have any words. I don’t think he could speak because he was so emotional.”

William Harper, who rowed at three, described the win as euphoric. He said: “We knew the whole week that we had the crew here to win.

“Every year it’s been a hard grind, which my brother who raced against St Paul’s and lost last year knows all too well.

“We have never beaten St Paul’s at Henley, but we accomplished that on Saturday. We knew St Paul’s were the second fastest crew and we were never complacent.

“On Saturday night we recovered and everyone came ready, knowing what they needed to do today.

“It was pure euphoria. I’ve done just about everything a rower can do but this has been the pinnacle.

“We came here, we believed and knew we could do it, and did what we needed to do — the win is for everyone.”

Maria Loggie, mum of cox Ben Loggie, said: “I am really excited and so pleased with all of the team. They are all brilliant and put in a lot of effort and they’ve come out the end of it winners.”

Steven Day Clark, 56, father of Henry Clark who rowed at six, watched from the finish line. He said: “I knew they got a good start, so I just kept watching the board anxiously. The feeling is just amazing after the pain last year. It’s mind-blowing and I think we’re all floating.”

Dave Currie, director of rowing at Shiplake College, said the crew had a good chance after winning at the National Schools’ Regatta in May. He said: “They have been a class performer for the whole year. They set into a really good strong rhythm and there were a few pushes from Radley but they responded to it.

“Their confidence grew stroke by stroke as they started to believe it was going to happen and they really stepped up to the competition.

“It’s the local school which have always dreamed of winning the cup and it’s been my dream for 11 years since taking over.”

Gregg Davies, former headteacher at the college who set up the rowing programme 13 years ago, said: “We decided that rowing was the thing we wanted to be known for, so we put a plan together and I went out and hired the best coach, Dave Currie.

“These guys know all about winning. It’s a mentality and they’re not scared. You have to be a bit arrogant in sport and they’ve got that.

“I sent them a postcard which was read to them before they went to row today, and this means so much to me. That acorn of an idea worked out in the end.”

There was no trophy for Shiplake College’s junior women’s eight who were beaten by Headington School in the final of the Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy.

Headington School, who won the trophy last year, won by a quarter of a length in a record time of seven minutes and nine seconds, beating the previous record set by Winter Park Crew USA in 2023, by four seconds. Currie described the girls as “warriors”. He said: “The Headington crew were strong and I thought they were going to be a very tough opposition to beat.

“Early on in the race they took the lead and I started to think that maybe that was the way the race was going to go.

“In the middle, our girls were absolute warriors, they dug super deep, they pushed back, but coming into the enclosures they ran out of a little bit of steam in the last 100m so unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of them.

“Credit to the school, they made everyone so proud, but I don’t think they could have given anything else.”

There was success for Leander Club who won the Ladies’ Challenge Plate for intermediate eights, beating Oxford Brookes University A by three-quarters of a length in a time of six minutes and seven seconds. Alex Abuhoff, from Montclair, New Jersey, who rowed at two, said the crew managed to recover quickly after a slow start. He said: “We knew the job we needed to do — try and go really hard off the start and try and get that edge on them.

“I thought we did such a good job keeping them in the corner of our eye, keeping them at arm’s distance and just really held that margin and trusted the rhythm all the way down the course.”

He said the crew had “hit the ground running” following a seat change two-and-a-half weeks ago. Abuhoff added: “The majority of us have been together since March but we made a small change a few weeks ago and I think we really hit the ground running. We just didn’t stop, so I’m really pleased with the way it went.”

He said it felt extra special to share the win with childhood friend, Kenny Coplan, who rowed at five. The friends came to Leander together in 2017 after first meeting in high school 10 years ago.

He said: “We rowed together in high school, went to different universities and then after we both graduated university we went back and wanted to do something special together.

“It feels unreal as it’s been a dream since then and to do that with him and all of these guys is really special.” Leander’s women’s club eight lost out in their final of the Wargrave Challenge Cup against Molesey Boat Club A by two lengths in a record time of six minutes and 47 seconds. The winning time broke all three records set previously by Thames Rowing Club A in 2022 at the barrier, Fawley and finish.

To the barrier they set a time of one minute and 57 seconds, beating the previous two minutes, to Fawley they set a time of three minutes and 17 seconds, beating the previous record by six seconds and at the finish set a new course record by a huge 19 seconds.

The Great Britain women’s coxless four, racing as a Leander Club and Reading University composite crew, were beaten in the final of the Town Challenge Cup by Hollandia Rowing Club A.

The Dutch crew won by half a length in a record time of seven minutes and four seconds, beating the previous record set by the Hollandia Rowing Club in 2019 by two seconds. Leander had appealed after the crews had almost clashed near the finish line, but after the race the judge said: “Both crews warned for steering, Hollandia warned most of the course.

“Crews almost clashed in front of the grandstands and an appeal by Leander was not upheld. Despite all this, some excellent rowing by both crews.”

There was success for a composite Leander Club and Tideway Scullers’ School who beat Oxford Brookes University in the final of the Visitors’ Challenge Cup for intermediate coxless fours who won by three-quarters of a length in a record time of six minutes and 21 seconds.

The winning crew equalled the previous record to the barrier before beating the record to Fawley by one second and knocking six seconds off the previous finish record set by University of Washington in 2022. The Great Britain men’s quadruple sculls crew, competing as Leander Club and Nottingham Rowing Club beat Rowing Australia in the final of the Queen Mother Challenge Cup by two-and-a-half lengths in another record time of six minutes and 12 seconds. The winning time knocked a second off the Leander Club finish record set in 2017.

Speaking after the race, Leander bowman Cedol Dafydd, 24, said: “There was a lot of wash on the water and we were getting pushed around and it was hard to control it.

“It’s my first time steering at Henley and I found it quite challenging with the beams as the other crew was quite close too but you just have to watch the umpire and make sure you’re fine.

“It was a really good race. We have raced them a few times now and knew they would come out hard. They were with us for a long time but we just had to trust our pattern and rhythm.

“We did want to win this one after our successful year so far, so we’re happy and full of confidence coming into the worlds if we go as this crew.” Maggy and Nick Harris, parents of Leander stroke Rory Harris who had won multiple times at Henley before in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, said: “It’s been a brilliant week, even if it’s raining, it’s great fun.

“We were so proud of them and they had a fantastic season, especially as a huge amount of work goes into it.

“My husband’s family have been rowing here since the 1860s, so Rory is the fifth generation who has rowed here.”

Leander’s final involvement in this year’s event came in the Remenham Challenge Cup where the Great Britain women’s composite eight crew of Molesey Boat Club and Leander Club lost out to Hollandia Roeiclub, Netherlands by three-quarters of a length in another record course time of 6 minutes and 33 seconds. The winning time took three seconds off the previous record set by National Training Centre, Australia back in 2018. Rowing Australia equalled the previous record set by the National Training Centre, Australia in 2018 in the Grand Challenge Cup. The crew won the men’s eights in a time of five minutes and 53 seconds to take the win against Hollandia Roeiclub, Netherlands.

The crew beat the Great Britain eight of Leander Club and Oxford Brookes University composite on Saturday to gain their final spot.

Elsewhere on semi-final day Leander had crews knocked out in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate, Thames Challenge Cup, Stewards’ Challenge Cup, Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup and the new Bridge Challenge Plate.

Leander Club lost in six of their races on Friday in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup, the Bridge Challenge Plate, the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, Town Challenge Cup and Double Sculls Challenge Cup.

Upper Thames Rowing Club were defeated on the same day in the Princess Royal Challenge Cup, Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup and Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup.

Other local crews who lost their semi-finals included Shiplake College in the Fawley Challenge Cup and Henley Rowing Club in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.

Leander, Upper Thames, Henley, Shiplake Vikings, Shiplake College and Reading Blue Coat School were all knocked out in numerous other events in the previous days of the six-day event.

Away from local interest, Great Britain’s Lauren Henry smashed the Princess Royal Challenge Cup record for women’s single scullers by coming from behind to win in a time of seven minutes and 55 seconds, smashing the previous record set by Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland in 2018 by seven seconds.

Other course records were set in the Diamond Challenge Sculls, Diamond Jubilee Cup and Bridge Challenge Plate.