26 June 2023
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch is looking for six clean shirts.
HTBS Types will probably not need reminding that the now six-day Henley Royal Regatta starts tomorrow, 27 June and will run to 2 July. The 2023 entries poster is online and the draw is on the website.
An official press release previewed the event:
Entries closed on Monday, 12 June with 732 Entries from 17 nations registered overall, the second highest ever in its 184-year history. There are a record 581 domestic Entries and 151 international, with 61 from the USA and a first-ever representation for Zimbabwe.
The number of female rowers entering the 2023 Henley Royal Regatta will be twice that of 2019, reflecting the growing strength and popularity of both the sport and the three new women’s events created in 2021. There are 1,400 women in 239 crews registered.
Chairman, Sir Steve Redgrave was quoted:
“The doubling of the number of female rowers is testament to the successful introduction of the Prince Philip (Junior Women’s Eights), the Island (Student Women’s Eights) and the Wargrave (Club Women’s Eights) in 2021.”
“It is more than just numbers though. This is about helping to establish pathways from junior level to the elite squads, and keeping our athletes in the sport. The talent is there, the numbers are growing, and there are events for them to grow into. We are excited to see that women’s participation is set to expand further over time.”
The press release continued:
This year will be a barometer for British rowing’s Olympic hopes with Great Britain well-represented in most of the open events. It will be a last chance to see the crews together at Henley with the Paris 2024 Olympics just over a year away.
Sir Steve:
“Every edition of Henley Royal Regatta is unique, but a Regatta in a year before the Olympics is always significant. We really see where crews are in their preparations, and the difference at Henley is that the gladiatorial nature of the racing means there are no hiding places. And, of course, this is the last chance to see the British squad before Paris.”
A rule change in The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (Junior Men’s Eights) means that for the first time clubs, as well as schools, have been allowed to enter. St Paul’s School, the champions last year and Eton College have won seven out of the last eight Regattas but from now on they will have to face crews like Seattle USA’s Green Lake – whose schoolboy-aged eight performed admirably in the Thames (Club Men’s Eight) last year.
As we have all come to expect, Henley’s YouTube channel will be providing brilliant stroke-by-stroke coverage with an end-of-racing summary every day. The HRR social media channels will also be busy.
https://www.youtube.com/user/HenleyRoyalRegatta
https://www.instagram.com/henleyroyalregatta
https://www.facebook.com/henleyroyalregatta
As the social media and YouTube coverage of Henley is more than good enough to satisfy all those unfortunate HTBS Types who cannot attend in person, this year I am experimenting with not posting during the Regatta itself. I sometimes feel that my daily Henley posts are a little rushed as I try and fit them in with social activities, travelling and sleeping. I will be posting in the days following HRR 2023 and hope that these will be more considered pieces, ones that may even help elevate any sadness that The Royal is over for another year.
There follows some nostalgia which (if it is needed) may be some compensation for my silence over the regatta.
A quote commonly attributed to Gustav Mahler is, “Tradition should be used, not to preserve the ashes, but to pass on the flame.” While Henley Royal Regatta is the epitome of tradition, today the passing of the flame is something that it does well. Cleverly, Henley manages to be both an Edwardian Garden Party and a relevant 21st Century sporting event.
While in the past Henley has sometimes prioritised “preserving the ashes”, nowadays the thriving regatta is run by young(ish) and innovative men and women who recognise that the only way for an institution such as Henley to appear to be unchanging is to constantly evolve. If proof was needed of this, the following pictures show that the more that Henley Royal Regatta changes, the more it stays the same.
From Berks To Bucks
Keeping Cool
Dress Code
Members And Their Guests
Entertainment Afloat
Top Hats
Before Their Fall
Signs Of The Times
View From A Bridge
Luncheon Interval
Warming Up
Pep Talks
Visitors from Connecticut
Between The Booms
Last Few Strokes
Rowed Out
Making A Splash
Eyes On The Prize
As final proof that Henley is both changing and unchanging, below is a splendid film of the 1972 Regatta currently on YouTube. The later three-times Diamonds winner, Seán Drea, then a student in the US, was rowing for the Philadelphia club, Vesper, and so the Irishman is described in the commentary as American. Today, such a production would not be sponsored by a tobacco company (“Rothmans, the greatest name in cigarettes”) or voiced in English Received Pronunciation, and, at the regatta, men would be less hairy and boats less woody, while there would be more women and fewer Russians competing. However, for all that, Henley remains Henley.