Day 2 of Henley Women’s Regatta on Saturday brought cooler conditions with lighter headwinds, and a full day of cracking racing.
After a morning of junior timetrials, there was a day of heats and quarter-finals. Several crews found themselves racing neighbouring clubs, and several events will have new champions after the 2025 winners were knocked out.
Among the local derbies, Boston College, having travelled across the Atlantic to race, found themselves up against fellow Bostonians, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the heats of the Colgan Foundation Cup for academic eights. Boston College took the win and are the only international crew through to the quarter-finals of the event, early on Sunday morning.
Putney clubs London RC and Thames RC race each other several times a year and their rivalry was renewed in the quarter-finals of the Lester Trophy for club coxless fours; after a strong start by Thames, London took the win, meaning their club eight, four and quadruple scull crews are all contesting the semi-finals.
However, Thames still had plenty to celebrate. Both Thames entries in the Ron Needs Cup for championship eights, both fours racing for the Avril Vellacott Trophy, and the Thames crew racing in the Copas Cup for club eights are in the semi-finals.
Racing in the Ron Needs Cup was especially close and the semi-finals and finals promise to be exciting on Sunday.
In one of the last races of the day, the bow-seat of King’s College London, racing the heats of the Cathy Cruickshank Trophy for academic coxless fours, caught a crab that ejected her from the boat, allowing Swansea University to row away for the win. Remarkably, the King’s rower was able to get back in the boat and finish the race.
Race of the day
The race of the day was between defending champions Edinburgh University and Oxford University ‘B’ in the Frank V. Harry Cup for development coxed fours. Edinburgh have won this event in the last three years, but there will be no fourth trophy for Edinburgh. Oxford rowed a strong race to claim a six-second win, progressing to the next round alongside their A crew.
Racing concludes on Sunday 21 June with the remaining quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. The first race is at 09:00 BST – find the schedule here.
