Red arrows and internationals fly high

Henley-on-Thames

4 minute read
Words Row360
Photography Row360
Published 04.07.25

The wind turned mean on day four of the Royal Regatta, swinging round to a significant head-wind just in time to annoy several crews who had hoped to break records. These included GB star sculler Lauren Henry, who had been planning on an attempt at the Barrier mark but had to settle for beating Dutch oarswoman Claire de Kok, a multi-talented youngster who flits between sweep and sculling, coastal and classic rowing.

Henry now meets Viktorija Senkute (LTU) who took Henley Women’s Regatta champion (and Paris LW2x gold medallist) Imogen Grant to the cleaners. On her day Grant might well have been able to put up more of a fight, but as a working doctor pulling day shifts this week and night shifts last weekend, as well as doubling up in the Cambridge Remenham crew, it might have been too big an ask. On the other side of the draw Australian Laura Gourley will have a tough challenge in the form of Lucerne bronze medallist Frida Nielsen (DEN).

Two others balked in their hopes of record-setting were Greek headline-makers Evangelia Anastasiadou and Zoi Fitsiou. The highly talented former lightweight medallists demolished the Spanish openweight double, but couldn’t set their longed-for Barrier record (2-10 to break) having only been able to post 2-22 in the stiff headwind. Anastasiasdou is still only 23, despite having competed as a full senior since she was 19 years old. The Greek win turned out to be Spain’s only loss of the day, their excellent pair and quad going through to Saturday.

Most racing ran smoothly but an early-afternoon quarter-final of the Ladies’ Plate had a delay when Brookes A broke their fin on the way to the start and had to return swiftly to sort it out. Since their opposition, Brigantine from the USA, had also already boated this resulted in the Americans having to paddle back up the whole course while Brookes got the repair kit out.

Brigantine are actually a bunch of Cornell students plus three friends from Penn and Dartmouth. The Cornell lightweights, who were banned from rowing for Cornell University after they got drunk and caused damage on a minibus trip a few weeks ago, suddenly found themselves pulled from the IRA championships, and told they couldn’t race for Cornell at Henley. Enter this piratical enterprise, which wouldn’t have qualified for the Temple or Thames, but could slide straight into the undersubscribed Ladies’ Plate event for elite eights. They were always likely to be mashed by Brookes A, who turned up with equipment intact at the new time of 4:25pm, but the US students managed to make it a good race, Brookes unable to lower the rate until they finally got a full length of open water at Remenham.

One of the best races of the day was a Town Challenge Cup quarterfinal between the Dutch second women’s four, all of whom have medalled this season internationally, and a putative under-23 GB women’s four racing as Leander and Molesey. The Brits were slightly slower off the start, but hauled the Dutch back in after the island, before Hollandia seized the lead again and looked as if they were going to push out along the first half mile.

This plan was foiled by the British hopefuls having another go, grabbing the lead back and this time holding it until Remenham, when the Dutch started a slow build to the finish which put them back in control and gave them the race. Classy rowing and a good result for both, though victory for the Dutch now sets them up against the latest draft of the GB senior four on Saturday.

Top scullers who cruised through included Melvin Twellaar (NED) and defending champion Olli Zeidler (GER) in the Diamonds, who beat Japan’s Ryuta Arakawa and British sculler Aidan Thompson respectively. A comfortable row for Zeidler confirmed that the Paris star, whose busy work and study schedule hasn’t allowed him to compete earlier this summer, is back on form.

Lucerne 2025 champion Logan Ullrich (NZL) dominated 2021 Olympic gold medallist Stefanos Ntouskos (GRE) apparently without effort, the margin ‘easily’ long before halfway and the final gap closing to three and a half lengths only as Ullrich slowed to a casual rate 22 paddle at the finish. The Greek withdrew from Lucerne on medical grounds, but gave photographers a thumbs up after the Henley finish line, suggesting he is recovering well, though he may be happy not to have to row a semi against Twellaar.

The final Diamonds race of the day was a corker, pitting Finlay Hamill (bowman of the excellent Kiwi men’s double) against one of the best M1x on the 2025 international scene to date, Dutchman Simon van Dorp. Hamill is also racing the Double Sculls with partner Ben Mason, and had coasted to a straightforward win against the Germans mid-morning. Van Dorp took the expected lead with a great start, but a superb power push from Hamill broke the Dutchman at Upper Thames, his 2024 coastal champion skills helping him over the Henley wash, and he was able to dawdle to the line as van Dorp was already broken.

Twellaar and Zeidler stand in the way of the enticing prospect of a Henley Royal final possibly deciding which out of the two Kiwis will go to the world championships in the single, but as they are on different sides of the draw it could happen. Twellaar was five seconds quicker than Ullrich at Varese but it’s still unclear what Zeidler could produce if pushed to it.

At the other end of the experience spectrum there was a race to delight parental hearts as sisters Anya and Celia Cheng coxed against one another in the Temple student men’s eights. Siblings racing one another are rare enough, and coxing against one another even rarer. This correspondent believes it’s a first for women, at least. The Harvard lightweights, steered by Anya, comfortably beat the University of Virginia, coxed by Celia, as the form guide predicts. Anya has already made history in 2024 by becoming the first Harvard cox to be made Coxswain of the Year by the Intercollegiate Rowing Coaches Association.

The Princess Elizabeth junior men’s eights is once again an all-British weekend line-up, after St Paul’s beat Eton, Shiplake walloped Bedford, Hampton hammered St Edward’s and Radley hung on to take Marin and eliminate the last foreign eight standing. The first two of those could cruise to the line, Hampton and Radley had to keep it high, but will now meet one another on Saturday where Hampton’s super-rapid start will come up against Radley’s persistence. The chance is high that a second tough day in a row will hobble whoever wins that for Sunday, so bets are mounting on the winner of the St Paul’s/Shiplake match to take the trophy.

Marin had suffered a difficult Wednesday when a crew-member complaining of stomach aches turned out to have had appendicitis, and ended up in hospital. Fortunately Thursday was a day off for the junior eights, so they had time to replace the ill oarsman — and for him to be discharged from hospital — but the race against Radley was always going to be a steep hill to climb.

A different kind of hiccup was suffered by Bath University in the Princess Grace W4x, a crew-member losing grip on one of her sculls when already some distance behind the world-beating senior Dutch quad. Sensibly Bath stopped to recover their oar before continuing, but the race was already lost.

Rowing Australia had a solid day for five of their six international team crews, but lost in the Town Cup W4- against the UL foursome of previous GB and Irish internationals. The UL crew steered much better, Australia veering across the course in the face of the headwind towards the British crew on Bucks. Eventually the Aussies straightened up but UL were too strong for them and won by a length. That puts the UL crew up against the fearsomely fast Dutch top four, whilst the GB senior four gets to carve up the second Dutch crew on the other side of the draw — at least if they have a good day. The whole GB team are treating Henley like a third world cup, after mixed fortunes in Lucerne and the lack of a mid-July event to close off the early racing season, and performances here will matter.

The ever-fascinating Visitors’ elite men’s coxless fours delivered a neat reminder of unpredictability when Leander and Tideway Scullers’ wildcard quartet of powerful and technical oarsmen stroked by former St Paul’s star Calvin Tarczy overturned a rapid start from the Oxford University A Blues lineup. Rowing away from Oxford, who are pondering how to undo the current Light Blue winning Boat Race streak, it was obvious that Leander and Scullers’ Achilles heel could be their slow start, but excellent speed over the whole course looks likely to see off the Canadian development crew they now face. The fact that Cambridge are entering the Grand and the Bridge instead of the lower Visitors’ and Island events will not have been lost on Oxford.

As the wind died down and the final races got underway, the Red Arrows soared over the Thames in a planned flypast over the course, dog-legging from the Wallingford direction and executing a perfect 90° turn over Henley Bridge before angling off towards their destination, Exeter. It rather overshadowed Durham A methodically beating Princeton A in the Island student women’s eights below to book a semi-final derby against Newcastle on Saturday, but as the jets headed off in a sharp V it was a perfect way to signal the turn of the regatta’s focus from early rounds to the pointed end of the competition.

Two days until the little red boxes are handed out. This is where it gets deadly serious.