Several clubs dominate the Henley Royal Regatta. Sunday's final confirmed the dominance of a handful of clubs at the top of the British rowing scene.
Ahead of last week's regatta, independent schools were concerned that a recent rule change would shake their foundations: junior eights from clubs, not single schools, were allowed to race in the Princess Elisabeth Challenge Cup for the first time. time. Clubs can recruit anyone and are not limited to students of a particular institution, which is why some feel they have an advantage.
But by Saturday, four of the most experienced independents had successfully eliminated all of the club's upstarts, and on Sunday the emotional St. Edward's won the trophy, beating St. Paul's, agonizingly long 24 years after their last victory.
Under-19 quad teams were a different matter, with all four places in the finals taken by club teams rather than school teams, and victories by Leander's juniors and juniors by the Tideway Scullers may have boded the future for the juniors. -19 eights.
Despite being a familiar part of the rowing community, St. Edward's is still one of only two co-ed schools to have won historic competitions, and as many girls as boys cheered their eight as they stepped ashore after the race. Junior rowing at Henley Royal is now fully gender-equal, with the same number of places for women in under-19 events as there are for men. The same applies to international competitions, but there is room for improvement in club racing. The only option for adult club or student rowing is the eight won this year by the Thames and Oxford Brookes University respectively, as international crews dominate women's small boats.
Changing this as soon as possible is on the agenda of many Henley stewards and a new era is on the way after the 2024 regatta when former Olympic rower Richard Phelps will succeed Sir Steve Redgrave as chairman and no doubt have a fresh style.
A new development in the last 10 years has been the dominance of a few clubs in British rowing. The trio of Leander, Thames and Oxford Brookes have won 18 of 26 events this year, with six more trophies for overseas crews, including Canada's women's eight and the lightweight sculls. Brooks went on to become an all-time winner in varsity rowing, winning seven trophies in seven final matches and at one event claiming four trophies in 40 minutes, as well as two verdicts with the lowest margins in a regatta with the top two collegiate eights.
Leander has eight more trophies to his credit from the 15 finalist crews, including their national teams, while the Thames has won three out of five, dominating the senior club competition. These successes are attracting new members, creating a self-perpetuating cycle into which several hundred other clubs in the UK cannot easily break out.
Oxford Brookes also contributed members to the winning British Men's Eights and Fours, which recorded two of them. seven victories for the senior national team, the icing on the cake was the men's four, finally beating the European champions from Poland after a difficult start to the season, although one of the Poles had health problems.
With the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne scheduled for next weekend, with an Olympic qualification being offered for the World Rowing Championships in September. National teams that have experienced difficulties, such as the women's eight, need to improve their results. There are fewer qualifying spots open to European crews this Olympics as the African, Asian and South American qualifying regattas now have five spots each for some of the most popular Olympic events.
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