The Start Line: Henley Women’s Regatta and Marlow Regatta take centre stage
Get ready for another superb weekend of racing across the UK
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Join us at The Start Line and look ahead to an outstanding weekend of racing across the UK.
Get ready for Henley Women’s Regatta
Three days of racing under the baking sun await more than 2,000 competitors and thousands more spectators at the 2025 edition of Henley Women’s Regatta. Racing will be fiercely competitive, none more so than Championship Eights racing for the Ron Needs Cups. Entries for this have skyrocketed from last year, with 29 crews vying for one of the 16 qualification spots out of the time trial. The collection of entries is a tantalising melting pot of club, student, and overseas crews and the result will be breathtaking to watch the racing unfold.
On paper, Thames RC is the crew to beat, having won Championship Eights on both days at the Metropolitan Regatta with their ‘B’ crew finishing second on the Saturday as an added bonus. Strong domestic challenges will no doubt come from Molesey BC, who was best of the rest a few weeks ago, as well as an incredibly exciting composite crew made up of Leander, University of London BC, and Durham University BC athletes.
Keep an eye on Mercantile Rowing Club who have travelled all the way from Melbourne, Australia. They won the Victoria State Championships by 26 seconds and placed second at the national championships behind Sydney RC.
Some of the most exciting racing will come across the junior events. After winning the National Schools’ Regatta, and continuing that momentum through the season, Shiplake College BC will be firm favourites to lift the Peabody Cup for Junior Eights. However, defending champions Heading School BC have this ability to consistently find more speed through the season. All you have to do is cast your minds back to last year where they triumphed at HWR before going on to win at Henley Royal Regatta, all while finishing third at NSR.
As for the Quads, the rowing gods have been cooking quite the showdown for the Bea Langridge Trophy. While Tideway Scullers School may have won at NSR, come the Saturday of the Metropolitan Regatta, Wycliffe College BC flipped the result and finished ahead of the Chiswick-based club. This tale took another turn on the Sunday as Maidenhead RC won Women’s Quadruple Sculls outright beating Wycliffe by nearly two seconds.
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The Frank V Harry Cup for Development Coxed Fours is always one of the most popular events at HWR. In recent years, this event has been dominated by university crews, particularly Edinburgh University who are the back-to-back defending champions. Their novice programme is the gold standard for beginner development across the UK and after winning both the Women’s Beginner Eight and Quad at BUCS Regatta, they’re in fine form coming into HWR.
However, the Baby Blue army couldn’t manage to win the Beginner Four at BUCS. That title was won by Queen’s University, Belfast and they’ll be travelling over the Irish Sea with an unchanged lineup from the one that conquered Nottingham back in May. 2021 was the last time a club won this event, and on that occasion, it was Agecroft RC who were victorious. They’ve had another strong season finishing seventh in the Women’s Coxed four at the Metropolitan Regatta and that compliments their second-place finish in Development Fours at Nottingham City Regatta.
All information about Henley Women’s Regatta can be found here here.
One last blast down the track at Marlow Regatta before Henley Qualifiers
Today is the day that the entries for Henley Royal Regatta 2025 have been published. For the vast majority of the crews racing at Marlow Regatta, this is a final opportunity to test their speed ahead of the Qualifiers next Friday. It’s also a final opportunity to build up their CVs to inform the Stewards as to whether or not they should be pre-qualified. There’s so much on the line and with eight-lane racing at Eton Dorney, we’re set for a barnburner of a Saturday.
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Championship Eights is set to be a corker. In Saturday’s spectacular showdown at the Metropolitan Regatta, London RC was just three seconds back on Leander’s entry for the Ladies’ Challenge Plate. More importantly, though, they were four seconds up on Putney rivals Thames RC, giving Stuart Heap’s men the advantage as both programmes get ready for the Thames Challenge Cup in a couple of weeks’ time.
Last year, London RC got the better of Thames by nine seconds at Marlow, before Sander Smulders and Thames RC orchestrated a phenomenal win over London in the Thames Challenge Cup semi-finals. Let’s see what Saturday’s racing has in store for the next instalment of this thrilling season between the two clubs.
Championship Single Sculls will be a fascinating matchup. Josh Knight (Minerva Bath RC) comes into Marlow as the favourite out of the 37 scullers after comfortable wins at Wallingford Regatta, Metropolitan Regatta and Reading Regatta. However, the South West Performance Development Academy sculler will face stiff opposition from the Thames Valley and from Scotland.
Leander Club’s Calvin Tarczy and Bryn Ellery will be the Henley-based club and after third place on the Saturday of the Metropolitan Regatta, Tarczy continues to impress in the single. Ben Parsonage of Clydesdale ARC has recently added to his trophy cabinet. After winning at Ghent International Regatta before winning the Lightweight Single at Metropolitan Regatta earlier this month, he can now add Scottish Champion to that list of achievements.
From Singles to Fours and you’d be forgiven for mistaking the start list for something from a World Championship event. Oxford University BC have two boats entered into Tier 2 but their pedigree is unrivalled. Their top boat is made up of US Olympic medallist Nick Rusher, Italian Olympian Nic Kohl in two, German U23 international Tassilo von Mueller, and Felix Rawlinson stroking, who just made his international debut at World Cup Varese. T
hey’ll be tough to beat. Olympic gold medallist James Rudkin will be racing with Thames RC and this combination will be looking to improve on their Metropolitan Regatta performance that saw them finish third and then second over the two days. Also returning from making his international debut is Toby Lassen who will regroup with Oxford Brookes University BC in one of two crews that will expect to make Saturday’s A Final. Finally, watch out for an intriguing Canadian entry. The University of British Columbia are travelling over with a pair of athletes who have represented Canada at U23 and senior level.
What else is on this weekend?
- Cambridge University May Bumps – more information
- St Ives – more information
- Stratford Junior Sprint – more information
- Thames Valley Park – more information
- York Summer – more information
“I’d love for someone to feel inspired!”
Before winning a silver medal in the Women’s Four at last summer’s Olympics, Esme Booth learned to row at King Edward VI School and Stratford upon Avon BC. Her journey to Vaires-sur-Marne, interwoven with experiences at Henley Women’s Regatta, is a tale that Shakespeare himself would have been proud to conjure up.
Social Spotlight: Behind the scenes at World Cup Varese
Travel with Eve Stewart to see what life is like at World Cup Varese with the GB Rowing Team
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That’s all from the start line this week!
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