Long Live Henley!

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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Long Live Henley!

Photo: Hélène Rémond

Have you ever heard of the pie eating contest in Houlton, Maine, or the hot pepper eating contest in Round Rock, Texas, or burritos in Coralville, Iowa, and veggie dogs in Austin, Texas, or the hot dog eating contest in New York during Independence Day, July 4th? Neither had I, till I opened up The New York Times Sport Sunday.


But let me start from the beginning. My dear wife asked me on Monday evening if I had had a look in The New York Times Sunday sport section if there was anything about the Henley Royal Regatta. My left eye brow probably quivered a bit when I informed her that the mentioned newspaper had dumped its ‘rowing correspondent’ a few years ago, and now never published anything on rowing, it did not matter if it was the World Championships, the FISA World Cup, or the Olympics – no rowing!

Well, today I actually took a look and there it was, a report from Henley, or that is, four (4!) long sentences under ‘Sport Briefing’. Above this section was more than a third of a page long article about ‘Competitive Eating’ (and a good sized space on the front of the sport section about this, too). You know, these competitions where you stuff your face with hot dogs, veggie dogs, hot peppers, pie, burritos, or God knows what, and you can win a lot of money. Some of these ‘sport events’ – I take it it is regarded as such as it has all this space in the sport section – are now televised and have, according to the paper, tens of thousands of onlookers who are dying to see if last year’s winner will manage to break his record by swallowing more than last year’s 68 hot dogs in buns in 10 minutes.

Disgusting! I can not understand how this gluttony can interest ‘tens of thousands’ of people. To hell with these eating contests, and long live Henley – I will see you there next year!

Monday, July 5, 2010

HRR Winners!

The winners of this year's Henley Royal Regatta. Photographer Hélène Rémond (copyright!).

Open Events - Men

The Grand Challenge Cup (M8+): Ruder Club Hansa von 1898 e.V. Dortmund (Germany)


The Stewards’ Challenge Cup (M4-): Princeton Training Center


The Queen Mother Challenge Cup (M4x): Reading University & Leander Club

The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup (M2-): E. Murray & H. Bond, Waiariki RC (New Zealand)


The Double Sculls Challenge Cup (M2x): C. Berrest & J. Bahain, Club France


The Diamond Challenge Sculls (M1x): M. Drysdale, West End RC (New Zealand); on the far right is Hart Perry, the first overseas person to join the ranks of the Henley Stewards.

Intermediate Events - Men

The Ladies’ Challenge Plate (M8+): Harvard University


The Visitors’ Challenge Cup (M4-): Leander Club & Durham University


The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (M4x): Leander Club


Club Events - Men


The Thames Challenge Cup (M8+): 1829 Boat Club


The Wyfold Challenge Cup (M4-): Nottingham & Union RC


The Britannia Challenge Cup (M4+): The Tideway Scullers’ School


Open Events - Women


The Remenham Challenge Cup (W8+): Western RC (Canada)


The Princess Grace Challenge Cup (W4x): Gloucester RC & Leander Club


The Princess Royal Challenge Cup (W1x): M. Knapkova, Slavia Praha (Czech Rep.)


Student Events - Men


The Temple Challenge Cup (M8+): University of Washington

The Prince Albert Challenge Cup (M4+): University College, Dublin

Junior Events - Men


The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (JM8+): Eton College


The Fawley Challenge Cup (JM4x): Banks RC & Melbourne University


More photographs to follow!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

HRR Final Day & Visit To 'The Inner Sanctum'

The 2010 Henley Royal Regatta is over. Hélène has sent me her fourth and final report. Ecstatically she writes “I have to say the last day has been a wonderful one, unforgettable, full with emotions since Tim Koch invited me to the Stewards’ Enclosure, ‘the inner sanctum’ as he calls it.

And as its access is restricted, it was an honour for me to be Tim’s guest and with us was his Polish friend, Eva. Very nice moments, thanks to Tim!



It was a unique experience. We went for a tour at the Stewards’ Enclosure. We saw the exhibition of the prizes, different paintings and photographs.

At the Regatta Shop you could buy slippers for only £195 - what a bargain,

and see bears rowing.

Eva tried on a fascinator, a special hat.

Of course, the comfort at the Stewards’ Enclosure is superior compared with the Regatta Enclosure. After lunch, we went for a walk towards the Start line, where we met Paul (in a bowler hat), a friend of Tim’s and we followed the tradition, eating strawberries and... drinking a glass of French wine since Paul is very fond of it.

After the finals we watched from the Grandstand (where I met these four guys, proudly wearing their school's handsome striped red blazers) the Prize ceremony.

Spectators can then meet the winners. Matthew Pinsent was also among us...

and Eva met some Irish oarsmen, too.

But everything has to come to an end, also HRR, and when it is time to leave, the course is empty."


Many warm thanks to Hélène for nice notes and beautiful photographs from this year’s Henley Royal. A special thank you to Tim, too, as he took good care of a fellow HTBS contributor!

Henley Royal Regatta Results

Today is the last day of the Henley Royal Regatta. You will find the results of the finals by clicking here. (This is posted while the races are still going on, so the results will be updated throughout the day.)

The Finalists In The Diamonds

For the first time in the history of The Diamond Challenge Sculls, a Swede, Lassi Karonen (Brudpiga Roddklubb), will be in the final of this event. Karonen (see picture) will meet the 2009 holder of the Diamonds, Mahe Drysdale (West End Rowing Club) of New Zealand. Drysdale, who is a four-time world champion in the single, will of course be a hard nut to crack for the 34-year old Swede, but everything can happen during a final at Henley.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

More Henley Photographs From Saturday

Here are some more of Hélène's photographs from today’s regatta in Henley.

Leander Club before their race…

and after their race.

There was a tremendous amount of different boats along the course of the regatta today. On the right is a boat with about 5 Elvises…

Swedish sculler Lassi Karonen, Brudpiga Roddklubb, was the winner of a heat in the Diamonds race today against B.C. Crean of Agecroft Rowing Club.

The international dimension is huge. The four ladies I photographed in their traditional kimono come from Gifu, Tokyo and Sendai to support the Japanese rowers.

No doubt these two girls won’t be allowed at the Stewards’ Enclosure!

Top Entries and Beautiful Weather Enticed The Crowd

Here is Hélène’s third report from Henley Royal Regatta. She writes how she really enjoys sharing her photographs with the HTBS readers. Well, I can hardly express how very grateful I am to have a special correspondent at Henley Royal for this blog. Truly, it is a treat to publish Hélène’s notes and photographs here – many thanks to you, Hélène!
She writes from Henley: “Today, I could see the difference from previous days. As it is Saturday, the crowd has arrived. The regatta has become much busier. I tried to go the start line but changed my mind since it was hardly accessible. People were queuing early on to have access to the Regatta Enclosure. A British lady, who previously has been to this event, told me that she had never seen such a crowd here before. Is it the exceptional top level entries and the number of the crews that have made the spectators decided to come and see this prestigious event during such a beautiful summer day? For sure the nice weather is a part of the success of this year’s regatta. It is so sunny and the temperature is very high... It must be hard for the rowers to bear this heat, though.

Among the spectators I found three Canadian ladies who are living in Britain and were good examples of how elegant women are at the regatta.

I also spent some time at the Photographers’ Box this afternoon, with Julie, from the Auriol Kensington Rowing Club. She is a commentator for the Regatta Radio.

Tea time is part of the tradition, of course, just like the lunch break - everything stops and becomes ‘empty’.

Now it is time to go and see the French Four racing. I am impressed by their results, still winning their races today!"

Along The Henley Royal Course

Henley Standard, the local newspaper in Henley-on-Thames, offers a two-part video on-line guided tour along the Henley Royal Regatta Course. Guide is Leander Club’s Robert Treharne Jones. To go to the videos, please click here.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Following A Strong Tradition

It is a small world, the rowing world, Hélène writes from Henley. When she was taking some photographs from a bridge, she happened to bump into Tim Koch. “It was,” she writes “a really nice moment.”


And here follows Hélène’s second report from Henley Royal: “This morning, the road was not as smooth as yesterday. The bus had difficulties entering the town. After a few light showers in the morning, the sky has left the place for the sun. As I dread the rain during the regatta, everything goes smoothly in the end. Members of the most ancient boat club were happy to strike the pause for me. I loved their red blazers, just like the ones with checkers and stripes.

Today, Princess Anne visited the HRR. She arrived by helicopter and then embarked on a royal barge to have lunch at the Stewards’ Enclosure, a member of the HRR’s Stewards told me. French spectators I met from the south of France told me they found it amazing, this solemn atmosphere, the strong tradition really impressed them.

Matthew Pinsent (above on the left) was here today, too. I was surprised since he kindly waved as I was smiling after I took the photograph of the boat he was in.

I was interested in interviewing the French rowers to have their impression on the event. Dorian Mortelette, Jean-Baptiste Macquet, Julien Després and Germain Chardin have won their race. Henley Royal Regatta means high sporting performance and a strong tradition, of course.”