An Unforgettable Henley
Forty years. That’s how long we at Reading University Boat Club had been waiting to pop champagne at Henley Royal Regatta, but this weekend completely shattered that drought in the best way possible.
Shifting our entire strategy to focus on a high-performance sculling programme was a massive gamble, but it completely paid off. We rolled onto the riverbanks with serious momentum after a ridiculous BUCS Regatta earlier in the spring (hauling in 30 medals, half of them gold), and we brought that exact same fire straight to the Henley reach.
Looking back across the squad, the depth of our success throughout the entire regatta was nothing short of extraordinary:
The Princess of Wales Challenge Cup: Our women’s crew totally smashed it in this brand-new event—which marks a huge step forward for gender parity at HRR—taking down a fierce Leander and Hartpury composite by two solid lengths to claim the inaugural win.
The Queen Victoria Challenge Cup: Three different RUBC crews qualified for this historic new student sculling event. Our journey ran all the way from the very first race of the event (tackled by our ‘C’ crew against Edinburgh) to the grand finale, where our ‘A’ boat dominated the Netherlands' A.A.S.R. Skøll by two-and-a-quarter lengths to take the crown and write our names into history as the very first winners. Iconic.
The Princess Grace Challenge Cup: Finnola Stratton took home the win representing us alongside Leander, capping off a massive stretch that also included crushing it at the World Rowing Cups in Seville and Lucerne.
The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup: An unreal four of our men's crews qualified for this event. Every single guy left everything out on the water and put on a show all week, putting up performances the whole squad is proud of.
Diamond Challenge Sculls: Talk about an epic milestone—Sam Cuthbertson became the first RUBC student in over 25 years to qualify for the Diamonds!
From bold new events to historic qualifiers and absolute dominance across the board, we completely owned the Henley reach this year. Consider that 40-year wait officially history.
Go Clams!
