Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) will again welcome more than 2,100 athletes from around the world to compete on the iconic course between 20-22 June 2025. A total of 510 crews are set to race, featuring 2,110 athletes from 213 clubs, universities and schools. It is the fourth year in succession that HWR has attracted over 500 crews and more than 2,000 competitors.
Entries for the Ron Needs Challenge Cup for championship eights are at an all-time high, with 29 crews looking for one of the 16 places in side-by-side racing. The record entry continues an upwards trend, alongside the expansion of women’s eights events at Henley Royal Regatta in recent years.
Para-rowing entries have also soared for the Grosvenor Cup for PR3 single sculls, which has eight entries compared to three in 2024.
Oxford Brookes University BC is sending the largest contingent to HWR, with 46 competitors due to race; Marlow RC and Vesta RC both have 45 athletes; Molesey BC has 44 and Thames RC 43.
As well as a strong entry from across the UK, 29 international clubs are racing this year, from Australia, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the USA, and a sculler all the way from Argentina.
Four athletes who won gold for Great Britain at the Paris Olympic games last summer will feature at HWR. Olympic and world lightweight women’s double sculls champion Imogen Grant is racing in the George Innes Cup for championship single sculls. All three female members of the Paralympic champion PR3 mixed coxed four will take to the Henley waters: coxswain Erin Kennedy will steer Leander Club ‘A’ in the Ron Needs Challenge Cup, while rowers Giedre Rakauskaite and Francesca Allen race in the Redgrave Challenge Vase for championship pairs.
Other Paris Olympians set to compete include GB’s Chloe Brew, racing for Thames RC ‘A’; Esme Booth, in Leander ‘B’; and GB’s Holly Dunford, New Zealander Kate Haines and USA coxswain Cristina Castagna, racing for Molesey BC ‘A’ – all in the Ron Needs Challenge Cup.
