Brown University reclaimed the Island Challenge Cup, Cambridge University captured its first Temple Challenge Cup of this century, and Reading University took the inaugural Queen Victoria Challenge Cup to secure its first Henley Royal Regatta victory in 40 years. All three student finals produced breakthroughs on Sunday afternoon on the Henley reach.
Washington reached both the Island and Temple finals and came away twice denied. The Huskies were the common thread across the women’s and men’s student eights, but neither final went their way.
Brown Reel Washington In
Brown and Washington were dead level off the start in the Island Challenge Cup final. Washington pushed ahead, building three-quarters of a length at the Barrier, but Brown cut the deficit to half a length by Fawley and then surged through in the closing stages to win by three-quarters of a length.
The victory returned the Island title to Brown after the Bears’ first win in the event in 2022. The cup stays stateside for another year.
Cambridge Break a Long Wait
Cambridge fielded a crew containing five Blues and started sharply. Washington opened at rate 50, Cambridge at 48, but the Light Blues edged away once the river widened and held a quarter-length advantage at the quarter-mile. By the Barrier that had stretched to most of a length.
Washington fought back briefly through the enclosures but never seriously threatened. Cambridge crossed two-thirds of a length clear to claim their first Temple title this century and their first Henley Royal Regatta trophy since 2008. The crew, assembled from the Blue Boat, Goldie and the third eight under Chief Men’s Coach Rob Baker, had beaten Oxford Brookes earlier in the week before controlling the final from the front.
Reading Write Their Names on a New Cup
The Queen Victoria Challenge Cup was one of three new women’s events introduced for 2026, confirmed by Henley Royal Regatta in March as the new women’s student event alongside the Princess of Wales Challenge Cup and the Danesfield Challenge Cup.
Reading took control from the start. The crew of Zara Povey, Franny Hunt-Davis, Shannon Whelehan and Felicity Cox led A.A.S.R. Skøll of the Netherlands by three-quarters of a length at the quarter-mile mark, stretched that to two lengths by Fawley, and finished two and a quarter lengths clear.
The quartet became the first women ever to have their names engraved on the Queen Victoria Challenge Cup. For Reading University Boat Club, it was an even bigger moment: the club’s first Henley Royal Regatta win since a coxless four took the Visitors Challenge Cup in July 1986.
Forty years between Henley titles, and the second arrived on a trophy that did not exist six months ago.
