By: Trudie (Vice Captain)
Henley Royal Regatta is the pinnacle of the domestic and international season. If you speak to any rower, it is a high point on their racing calendar. Thousands of spectators line the banks of this challenging course: 2,112 metres of side by side 1 on 1 racing. As the week progresses, the regatta steps on and the competition only gets tougher.
One can't simply turn up and race at Henley. First you have to qualify and due to strong performances at the National Schools' Regatta and at Henley Women's Regatta; our 1st quad did pre-qualify for Henley and were given a bye for the first round: an impressive feet given that none of the girls had previously raced the event before.
The Headington crew first raced on the Friday of the regatta against a strong crew from Surbiton High School. The Headington crew won this first round match up after leading the race from the beginning (watch here). The Headington crew then progressed through to the Saturday of racing.
In the morning, the Headington quad girls raced the Tideway Scullers crew with whom we had been evenly matched throughout the season. A strong performance from both crews saw tough racing all the way down the course with Headington winning by a length (race video). The girls next race was that evening against the Shrewsbury crew who had beaten Headington in the final at the National Schools’ Regatta. Another very tough race against a very well respected crew saw Headington win by over a length (Race video) to reach the final.
Finals day saw Headington vs a very experienced Latymer Upper School crew. In previous rounds the Latymer quad had beaten the winners from the National Schools’ Regatta the Headington girls knew that this would be a hard race. Headington finished as runners up in a tough race to the line to close out Henley Royal Regatta for another year. Very well done to Latymer and thank you for a great race (Race video).
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