‘We’ve got 42 students qualified’: Dominant depth on day two of Henley Royal Regatta
Molesey BC and the University of London shine as records are broken on the second day of Henley Royal Regatta
Credit:AllMarkOne
With the mercury lower than yesterday, day two of Henley Royal Regatta delivered some outstanding performances. The day was a phenomenal display of the depth of some of the women’s programmes in the UK. Thames RC set the benchmark, qualifying four of their Women’s Eights for the Wargrave Challenge Cup – their Putney neighbours London RC got three into the main draw.
In the Island Challenge Cup, Edinburgh University have similarly qualified three crews, more than any other programme. Durham University BC and the University of London BC both qualified two boats for the event and they faced each other in front of the packed enclosures. While UL got the better of their northern rivals, coach Stu Pearce was full of praise for both crews.
“We knew we’d be up against it but it was good, tight racing”
“Durham is a really good outfit and full credit to what they are doing. We’ve both got two crews in the competition and all four have done really well and been very close all season so we knew we’d be up against it but it was good, tight racing and good to see the quality of the regatta kicking on as well,” he said.
“For UL, we’ve got 42 students qualified across Men’s, Women’s, Eights, and Fours. We pride ourselves on getting as many people as possible to race. We’re fortunate enough that we’ve got some U23s and Olympians and they’re doing the Town Challenge Cup, and then a mix of everything underneath so it means a lot to us and it’s always the peak of the season so it’s good to get some wins under the belt,” Pearce continued.
View this post on Instagram
Speaking of depth, Molesey BC have entered en masse to Henley Royal Regatta. After being the only club to have three crews in the side-by-side racing in the Championship Eights event at HWR, they have continued to find speed throughout their squad. A commanding performance against the Upper Thames RC on their opponents’ home water, backed up with an win by their ‘A’ boat against Tyne ARC, suggests that everything is falling into place at just the right time for the famous black and white. Especially as the ‘A’ crew were the fastest Wargrave crew to Fawley, breaking the record time in the process.
Head Coach Sam Tuck was delighted with all of the Molesey BC athletes who have raced today. “I’m really pleased. They got to sit and watch the Men race yesterday and they were both afternoon races so by the time they got here they were raring to go. Now, they get a day off and will race again on Friday so they’ve got to wait 48 hours until they go again but they both did a really good job.
“There’s so many quick crews in the event this year”
“They were up [on the record] at Fawley, but there’s so many quick crews in the event this year so we’re just focussed in on Friday’s racing.”
It was the international crews who provided some of the most electric moments of the day. The University of San Diego trailed Oxford Brookes University in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup for 2110m, but never more than a canvas. They rowed through Brookes to win by two feet in arguably the best race of the regatta so far.
In a match-up that could have been a Sunday billing, Sydney RC came up against De Hoop of the Netherlands. On their way to victory, the Dutch equalled the record to Fawley, the same as London RC, but Stu Heap’s crew went to another level later in the day when they broke that record by three seconds. In the afternoon session Rutgers University, celebrating 50 years of women’s rowing, broke the Fawley record in the Island Challenge Cup on their way to beating Newcastle University ‘B’.
