I was fortunate enough to be in the UK last week for the 2012 Henley Royal Regatta. Henley is located about an hours drive outside of London. The day that I visited was a typical overcast day in England, brilliant! This was the first time that attended Henley since the 1994 event and so it had almost been twenty years since I was able to soak in the atmosphere and be able to fully relive the memories of my time rowing for Kingston Grammar School in the events of 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Henley is a five day event that takes place each year at the end of June and sometime in early July. The first Henley regatta took place in 1839. For more information on the history of the event, click here.
The length of the racecourse is 2112m and so therefore is slightly longer than the standard Olympic distance of 2000m. Each race comprises of only 2 crews that compete and the winning crew proceeds to the next race while the other is eliminated. For a complete map of the race course, please click here.
Some of the footage in the following film was taken in the Stewards’ enclosure. The Stewards’ enclosure has a very strict dress code, for more information on the dress code please click here. The enclosure is only accessible to members of the Stewards’ and their guests. I was fortunate to obtain a guest pass from a friend, Phil Simmons (Biff), who rowed at Hampton School and was a cross town rival of our high school. Biff was also a Great Britain international and so therefore a very accomplished rower who now is the Head Coach of Kingston Grammar School (strange turn of events!). My sincere thanks and gratitude go to Phil for spotting me a guest ticket to access the enclosure. Without the Stewards’ guest pass I would not have been able to provide the compete Henley experience in my video. At the very least, the video is a five minute glance at what is arguably the greatest regatta in the world.
Henley Royal Regatta represents the crowning event for many adult and schoolboy rowers across the world and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to race there and represent my high school. It was very exciting for me to attend the event this year and I believe that our rowers can achieve this goal. It is my hope that TRCJ can go and attend this event and have further repeat visits in future years.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at coachb@tulsarowing.org. For more information on the regatta, please visit the event website at http://www.hrr.co.uk