Race Review - Henley Royal Regatta Qualifying Races

A long season of training for Trafford RC's senior men's coxless four finally reached its conclusion on Friday 26th June at the qualifying races of Henley Royal Regatta.  Entered into the Wyfold's Challenge Cup for club coxless fours, Andy Sykes, Roy Barry, Simon Weeks, and Hywel Benjamin faced a huge task to make the final 32 from 63 crews entered into the competition.  With 17 crews pre-qualified, Trafford would need to be in the top 15 of the remaining 44 crews required to go through the qualifying races, which take the format of a time trial along the famous 2112m Henley course.

The crew's final preparation after Marlow Regatta the previous Saturday couldn't have gone better.  Over the final few days the crew worked hard to adapt to a new boat loaned from Abingdon School, with the crew travelling to Henley the day before qualifying to train on the Henley course.

The course conditions on qualifying day were virtually perfect.  The weather was warm and slightly overcast, with a light headwind.  At 4:20pm, the Trafford crew started their qualifying race strongly rating 43 strokes per minute off the start.  At the end of Temple Island, the crew settled down into their cruising speed of 35 strokes per minutes, maintaining this strike rate for the whole course.  Finishing in a good time of 7 minutes 25.1 seconds, the crew knew that they had raced as fast as possible and couldn't have given anymore to qualify.      

Then followed the agonising wait to see which of the 44 qualifying crews would take the remaining 15 places in the final 32.  Qualifying crews are announced one by one, in alphabetical order, with a great cheer going up across the boating area from each crew who has been successful in qualifying.  As the announcer worked his way towards the end of the alphabet, Star RC qualified and then Tees RC.  The Trafford crew waited to hear their name, but were disappointed when the next club to be announced as successful was Tyne.  The Henley dream was over for another year.      

Whilst obviously disappointed, the Trafford crew were incredibly proud of the time they achieved.  Only eight seconds separated the 17 fastest non-qualfying crews, with many more behind Trafford including the likes of Grosvenor, Vesta, Thames and Furnivall, clubs who have huge resources and support compared to Trafford.  For the Trafford crew to finish faster than many more illustrious names in rowing is testament to the work put in over the last year.       

Hywel Benjamin