11 months on from a stroke, ‘the voice of rowing’ is ready to get back behind the microphone

After his stroke last year, Dr Robert Treharne Jones sits down with Fergus Mainland to talk about his recovery and some his epic tales from Henley Royal Regatta commentary

“Good Morning everyone and welcome to Henley Royal Regatta 2024. A heat of the Fawley Challenge Cup is in progress, between Great Marlow School on the Berkshire station and The American School in London on the Buckinghamshire station. At the end of the island…”

When you hear those words spoken by Dr Robert Treharne Jones before the first race of the day, it’s like a warm blanket wrapped around you. It’s an informed, familiar voice that’s ready to be your guide through the hundreds of races that are about to unfold over the next six days.

Robert’s distinctive voice is one of many that come together to form HRR’s commentary team, broadcasting through the Steward’s Enclosure keeping spectators informed on all the action that’s unfolding on one of the most famous stretchs of river in the world. For many, it’s the ‘voice of god’ booming around the grandstands and bars, but in reality, it’s a dedicated team operating on top of the Floating Grandstand, one of which Robert has been a part of for 45 years.

Robert made his unexpected commentary debut at the international regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. Since then, he has commentated at (or reported on) Boat Races, World Championships, four Olympic Games, as well as just about everything else rowing-related under the sun.

For several years, Robert had been aware of a leaky heart valve. After advisement from his cardiologist, he kept up a busy, and active lifestyle, including rowing and plenty of walking, up to 30 miles a week.

One of the issues if I can summarise it in a nutshell is that nothing is easy.

However, on July 19 of last year, he would undertake an operation to replace the heart valve with a new, artificial one.

“A couple of years ago, I spent a few months in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading,” explained Robert.

“I had picked up a blood infection and with that sort of infection what it does is to seek out the weakest point in your circulation and cause even more problems. In the case of my leaky heart valve, the infection sort of gathered around the valve and built up, it looks a bit like a fungus sticking on the valve so it made it even less efficient than it was before.

“By now, the cardiothoracic surgeons were taking a keen interest in me and surgery was recommended. So, I went to Barts Hospital in London, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, which is my old medical school.

“When I was coming round from the general anaesthetic, they realised I wasn’t moving my left arm because I’d had a stroke while I was under the anaesthetic. A piece of the growth on my valve had flown off around my circulation and had lodged in one of the arteries in my brain and had cut off the blood supply to a major chunk of it. So I lost the use of my left arm and leg.”

For the past 10 months, Robert has been undertaking rehabilitation at a number of hospitals in London, Reading, and Oxford. While not necessarily a specific target, being back on the Floating Grandstand and lending his voice to the regatta’s commentary has certainly been in the back of his mind. Currently, in a manual wheelchair, the plan is to get an electric one to help navigate HRR.

Warned from the outset that rehabilitation was going to be hard, Robert embraced the challenge but has been struck by just how challenging the process has become.

“One of the issues if I can summarise it in a nutshell is that nothing is easy. In the old days, I would do something spontaneous like popping over to that bookshelf, pull out a book and flick through it, I can’t do that anymore. Or say to my wife, ‘Why don’t we go for a drink this evening’ and jump in the car and go down to the pub. Can’t do that anymore.

“Everything has to be sussed through, gone through and planned. The resources that I need for that trip need to be gone through and then implemented. I spend a lot of time in a wheelchair at the moment, but I’m going to be getting a power chair very soon which will make life a bit easier.

“I think I’ll be in the power chair come [Henley Royal] Regatta. The stairs are interesting. I got up the first few steps here without any problem but I’m hoping to commentate at Henley again and that means going up to the top of the floater. I’m going to have a practice run-through to see how I get on, so that’s the challenge. If I can do that, I’ll be very happy.”

Robert and Henley Royal Regatta are synonymous, the two are intertwined. Along with commentary Robert also sings in several choirs. Despite the fact that the stroke happened on the right side of the brain, which includes many important things such as the speech structure, he’s gratified to hear that his voice still sounds the same and he’s incredibly excited about getting back to the choirs.

At this year’s regatta, spectators can look forward to a number of new voices who have joined the team operating out of the Floating Grandstand. It’s a huge privilege for anyone and certainly comes with its obstacles, not least the pronunciation of overseas crew names.

Pronunciation is something that Robert takes very seriously and he’ll go out of his way to educate himself but also help others with some of the more challenging individual or club names. However, the key to any pronunciation is practice.

“We had a Norwegian crew once, and a friend of mine is Norwegian so I went off with her and said, ‘I want to get this right.’ With some languages, it’s not possible to get it absolutely right.

“I’ve commentated at regattas in Poland at Poznan many times and I remember there was one particular surname with more than the usual number of Zs in it. I said to a colleague ‘I’m going to get this right; does it sound like this?’ I said the name, and he told me it was not quite there but it was ok. I told him that I didn’t want it to be ok, I wanted it to be correct. He said, ‘Robert, you’re English it will never be correct, unless you’re Polish you won’t be able to speak this way!’ Which I thought was interesting.

“There was one of my colleagues on one occasion struggling with a name so we went and had a coffee to go and work through it. Not just the pronunciation but the delivery and the cadence.

“Too many people think if they take a run at it then things will fall into place, but it doesn’t work like that, things to seriously out of place when you try like that so cutting it down one syllable at a time and learning how to pronounce each syllable is the thing that I tend to do.”

For Robert, Henley is the pinnacle of the rowing season and his involvement at the regatta has taken many forms over the years. For 15 years, he was the Regatta’s Press Officer but he has also led the Regatta Radio team before the livestream was introduced.

With commentators situated at the Barrier, Fawley, Remenham, and on the finish line, Regatta radio was perfectly positioned to inform spectators of all the action. The dedicated team worked for years to elevate the coverage of the regatta despite having limited access to high-tech equipment.

“Where we put the commentators at the stages was challenging. We had a scaffolding tower inside the hedge at Remenham Club, which swayed around gently in the breeze, not the most stable structure we had ever invented.

“Then we borrowed a tennis umpire’s chair to stick at the barrier. It got a bit exciting on the evening shift on the Saturday. Whoever was on shift was up this chair with their microphone and notes and would be accosted by a series of people who had spent most of the afternoon in the bar and were seriously over-refreshed and weren’t beyond lobbing a few missiles in their direction. So when it came to allocating the duties, I had to be fairly savvy about who I would put there!”

For Robert, commentary is all about elevating the sport. Over the years, there have been some superb moments at Henley that will be remembered for decades. One of the most recent ones came in 2017.

“I remember an occasion when it was Thames RC against Thames RC in the final of the Thames Challenge Cup and my good friend Andy Taylor, a Thames RC man himself, was doing the commentary. He decided to go entirely off-script in a very non-Henley way.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a recording of his delivery because it was very amusing and people at the top of the floater didn’t expect it at all.

People on top of the floater are only allowed up there if you’re a member of the commentary team or if you’re a member of the Steward’s Enclosure. It’s where I meet all my friends during the regatta because they are all rowing enthusiasts up there. They are the fiercest critic of anything the commentator says or does. If anybody makes a slip, they’re made aware of it but there will also be a round of applause if there’s a difficult crew name well pronounced.”

Robert is on track to be back behind the microphone at this year’s regatta. While there is still some more surgery to come later this year, rehabilitation has been going well and we can hopefully look forward to hearing his familiar tones revibrate around the enclosures. It’s a special event for so many and ‘the voice of rowing’ as he is known plays a key part in that enjoyment.

“I used to explain to newcomers from the press how unique an experience it was. On one hand, it’s a major reunion of rowers past and present. It’s the one occasion in the year when I can expect to see all my rowing friends in one place.

“It provides top-class racing from every stage from juniors to students, and clubs right up to international crews who may have featured at an Olympics or a World Championships.

“Some people poo-poo it because there is a section of the crowd who have little or no interest in the rowing and only have a good time and socialise. Without that section there and without those people there enjoying themselves, Henley wouldn’t be the same. All the constituent parts of the regatta all have a part to play in creating this façade of an Edwardian garden party.”

Listen to Fergus’ full conversation with Robert on YouTube now!