Henley Women’s Regatta
How can we sum up Henley Women’s Regatta this year? Three days of emotion and excitement for everyone who took part.
Showing our depth across our women and girls by fielding what was our largest entry of rowers participating, the standard this year did not disappoint.
Our Aspirational Club Eight and Development Coxed Four both had excellent races in the qualifiers with both crews beating multiple crews they had raced at Met. Sadly both fell agonisingly short of qualifying.
For the four while the result didn’t go their way, being the 2nd fastest non-qualifier in a field of 39 crews was a huge step on in performance and the crew should be incredibly proud of the result.
The eight while disappointed that they missed out on qualifying posted one of the fastest non-qualifying times in recent years, and beat numerous crews who had beaten them at Met Regatta, showing the immense progress made. They now make final preparations for Henley Royal Regatta qualifiers.
In the Aspirational Double Scull event, our Leeds RC / University of Leeds BC PDA composite of Ruby and Abby had a great row in the qualifiers and came 27th in a very stacked field. Huge credit to Matt Mole for his work with the PDA athletes this season.
The juniors this year made their mark on the regatta. The junior girls eight showed their future potential with an outstanding row in the time trial. While not qualifying only 3 seconds split the 6 fastest non-qualifiers including Leeds putting what was a mixture of our J15-J18 girls into a solid place for HRR qualifiers and onto the next season.
The stars of the regatta though were Alice and Liv in the Junior Double Scull event. Smashing the qualifiers, and then showing the speed they’ve been unlocking during regatta season, the girls not only took the mantle of the first ever Leeds junior girls crew to qualify for HWR but also being a finalist at the regatta. An amazing achievement for both girls, and a huge well done to Marlow RC on the win.
It was also great to see so many ex-LRC members and coaches in action at the regatta. Special mentions to Coach Charley Faint for reaching the SF in Champ 1x, to Katie Mole for her win in Champ 2x.
Finally a huge thanks to the coaches, to Matt M and Ciaran for the logistics, and to all of the supporters across the event.