How does an Olympic Champion spend their Henley Women’s Regatta?
Fergus Mainland chats with Imogen Grant to hear how her HWR is shaping up
Credit:AllMarkOne
Racing, commentating, and helping to launch a sustainability strategy. There’s a lot going on over the Henley Women’s Regatta weekend to keep three people busy, let alone one. For Olympic Champion Imogen Grant, it’ll all be things she’s looking forward to taking in her stride. After starting her career as a medical doctor back in August, she’s mastered spinning multiple plates and this weekend will be a combination of some of her most treasured passions.
Following the Tokyo Olympics, Imogen accepted the role of HWR ambassador, another duty she’ll be combining this weekend along with racing in the Championship Single Scull event for the George Innes Cup. The two-time world champion was proud to become an ambassador and represent the event that was such a catalyst for her rowing journey and she is eagerly looking forward to getting back between the booms for a number of different roles this weekend.
“I’m really excited. I think it pulls together a lot of things that I’m passionate about,” said Imogen.
“I love racing domestically in the UK in a stretch of water that’s very familiar to me now that I live in Henley so from that side it’s really special. I love commentating and having front-row seats to some of the most important racing in people’s careers, and as an ambassador, I’m also really excited about helping HWR to launch their sustainability strategy and that’s going to be a big part of the regatta this year as well,” she added.
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Imogen’s HWR journey began during her first year of rowing whilst studying Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and Medicine at the University of Cambridge. Racing as part of a development crew, she was knocked out fairly quickly but the event and the experiences played a huge role in making the step from a college rower to a university rower.
Fast forward 12 months and Imogen was back, this time racing in Championship Lightweight Coxless Pairs, formerly known as Elite Lightweight Coxless Pairs.
“I entered the lightweight pair with one of my best friends that I’d made in the rowing world. I just have the most amazing memories of the weather, the atmosphere, and the racing.
“We had no right to think that we could win given that we were both second-year university students and had done a little bit but not loads. We rowed through in the final to win and it was just the most amazing feeling to be recognised for what we had achieved amidst the high-quality racing down in Henley, somewhere where we don’t get to race very often,” she explained.
HWR has been and always will be more than just the racing on the water. It’s one of the great women’s sporting events in the world and has supported women of all abilities since its inception in 1988m, the regatta has inspired thousands and created memories to last a lifetime for athletes, spectators, and everyone else in between. As a result of trying her hand at commentary, some of Imogen’s fondest memories of the regatta have come with a microphone in hand rather than a blade.
“In more recent years, participating in some of the commentary and having a ride in some of the launches and seeing how much it meant to friends and families has been very cool.
“I had the privilege of commentating on one of the finals that contained the crew that my husband actually coached and I was good friends with the girl who won. Being able to see that standing on the back of the launch after a really close race and a hard-fought win was really amazing.”
That race, covering the final of the Aspirational Lightweight Single in 2022, is one that will remain with Imogen for a long time. Imogen will be back on the airwaves in 2025 along with a stellar line-up of commentators as more than 35 pundits, HWR ambassadors, and Olympic champions lend their voices and bring the regatta to life around the venue and on the event’s live stream.
Imogen’s advice to those racing the first time? Soak it all in.
“Being in the HWR enclosures, on the boats, and around the shopping village there’s so many people who wander around. You’ll see Jess Eddie walking through as well as the other crews who are racing and you learn so much from watching the racing and gain so much experience just from spending time in that atmosphere. See everything and stick around to see what happens.”
Henley Women’s Regatta takes place 20-22 June and you can follow all the action here.
