By David Greenspan _________________________________________________________

Henley 2006 is now over. One of the oldest continuously run sporting event, beginning in 1839, is the pinnacle of rowing for so many athletes. As was stated regularly in the newspapers, on 'regatta radio', and in Matthew Pinset's recently aclaimed autobiography, A Lifetime in a Race, "To row at Henley is a goal of any oarsman (and, more recently, oarswomen) because of the history". Some had even said that in a year where an athlete can compete at the Royal Regatta and the World championship, it would be the Regatta that would be the most memorable.

As a spectator and a one time competitor in the past, there certainly is nothing like it. Henley insists on maintaining its very old traditions, resisting all of the changes of the modern world. The race course, boating area and viewing stands are all temporary, up and down in the few weeks of the regatta. Information boards communicate to the crowd via the effort of the human hand. To enter the 'Stewards Enclosure' for the premier seats, restuarants for Tea and Lunch, bars for drinking Champaign, beer or the ever present Pimm's Number 1 cup, you need to be 'invited' and wear the proper attire of suit jacket and tie for men, and a dress below the knee (hat is preferred) for ladies. Use a cell phone and you are escorted out. The only break with this historic tradition is the use of an announcing system that reports race progress from radios in the launches. The dry english voice will report on who is racing, who is leading, by what amount, their location on the course, and their rate of 'striking' (the strokes per minute). There is no color, no commentary, nothing more.

The place is packed with thousands. Signs on the road tell drivers to expect long delays during race week. They come by car, bus and train each day. Again quoting the 4 time Olympic champion, Matthew Pinset, "Henley has no sponsors, no television coverage, but more than a 100 years of tradition to work from. It runs two boat races in a straight, knockout fashion over 5 days up to the first weekend in July. It has become part of the English season and, as such, attracts thousands who know nothing about rowing. But they don't need too: the atmosphere, whether you are in the enclosure or dabbling your toes in the river at the start, is enticing. Some come just to be seen, some come to drink until they can't see, but most see a race or two."

The boat tents house all of the equipement and the competitors. Showers are famous here as they provide water directly from the water mains that feed the town. There is NO hot water. The tents are at the foot of the race course. The 'Enclosure' is next door, and so with the proper badge, you can stroll among the boats and competitors (see the men in their jackets).

Athletes rest for their races wherever they can. This year the weather was unseasonably hot, a bit humid, and not unlike a typical Philly summer with temperatures in the mid 80's. Oars are stowed near the mouths of the tents and on Wednesday when all of the competitors are there, the color and patterns of the many different oars make for a beautiful sight.

Another view of the boating area, this time from the bridge that is just below the foot of the course. It is the major bottleneck for all commuters (on road and foot) getting across the Thames from the racing side to the town side and back. The garden party has begun. Rules of the river prevent the Stewards from closing the Thames for the regatta, so many take advantage of the opportunity to either watch from the river or be seen on the river. Note the row boat. Yep, that is a very hot Newfoundland steering. Beyond the tent with the signs (shop is easily seen) is the 'Enclosure'. All Stewards are members of the Leander Boat Club. They are either 'pinks' or 'blues' depending on their 'rank'. Pinks are the more prestigious. You must wear the pink tie and preferably pink socks during regatta days and when you are in the enclosure or the club. There is a special stands for 'members' of the club in the Enclosure. Entry to Leander is restricted to Henley winners, participants in the Oxford Cambridge annual 'Boat Race', and others selected due to their contributions to rowing. Hart Perry was the Pink Steward who invited our boys to compete. He was unaware that the competition was going to be so stiff.

The town of Henley is small, and the entire event takes place along the narrow Thames and its rarely straight 2100 meter section that makes up the race course. With the many competing crews, the spectator boats, the crowds on the banks, the intensity of the experience for all is palpable. Houses line the banks in the town on the left. The Harvard crew heads up for its race (red blades with white tips). The course is put in a few weeks before, traffic markers help guide boats. Later in the week, the crews row up the course between events to stay away from the many observer craft.

A nice view up the course from the town. It is dead straight with 'booms' of wood anchored by white posts most of the way along. Match racing is followed by the judges launches every 5 minutes. You can get a spot in the launch if you plan ahead and have a vested interest in the race. At the top of the course are orange posts to guide the coxless boats down their lanes. On the left you can see one of the many markers that post the relative positions of the crews as they pass. There are marks at the 'end of the island' just past the start, the 1/4 mile, the 'barrier', the 'fawley' (about 1/2 way), the 'remenham club' the mile marker, the 1 1/4 mile marker and the 'progress board' in front of the enclosure on which all can follow the race. The mile and 1/4 marker is on the left. The "2" is one full sign below the "1" noting that at the 1 1/4 mile mark, lane "2" on the left or "bucks" side was 1 length behind lane "1" or the "berks" side. As you can see, in this last bit, the crew on the Berkshire side of the course continues to lead the crew on the Buckinghamshire side. The signs are drawn up by a poor soul who sits in that little white shelter. Crowds line the right side and boats, that get big enough to hold hundreds along with a band, cruise up and down the left. There were bands playing all sorts of music all over the course.

OK, so I fibbed, the Newfie wasn't steering. A nice look at the enclosure on the left.

On Wednesday, the grass was green, the crowd was just building towards its peak on Friday and Saturday (Sunday finals start at noon for church goers, and doesn't draw quite the same crowd either), and the Enclosure has lounge and lawn chairs along its entire 200+ yards, with stands on the right. Behind the stands, a band plays, bars and restuarants serve, and the crowd strolls in its finery. Club and School crews, like ours, are in "Henley" blazers as well, each with their recognizable colors and patterns.

This jacket would not be the loudest but it helped the boys feel more comfortable when they wore their madras pants.

Racing starts at 9:00 am, breaks for 90 minutes at lunch (12:30 to 2:00) and again for an hour at tea time (4:00 to 5:00). One has to do a traditional english tea doesn't one? Sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, cakes and tea (of course) round out the feast. Brian, Lisa and I enjoyed meeting some of the many tea takers. In fact, meeting the many visitors of Henley is a highlight of the trip.

Who's having fun? The tent did fill up by the time we were finished our seating. The boys met Matthew Pinset. Brian had a beer with Sir Steven Redgrave, the 5 time Olympic gold medalist. Mr. Redgrave is a 'pink' and is considered one of the best rowers if not best athlete of all time.

Picnicing at Henley is standard fare. Tenting is required either due to the sun or the rain. Many set the tents over the tail of their car using the 'boot' as a serving area. The fine china is a must.

Spectators in proper dress are seen everywhere all of the time. The ladies hats were being sold in Henley for $300 and more. You know that you are meeting someone of stature when they wear gloves as well. Many of the men have 'badges' on from current or past Henley regattas or club ornamentation. These men take these traditions quite seriously. We met one older gentleman while at a restuarant. He was in a bright scarlet jacket and white trim from the Kingston rowing club. His younger colleague also had the red and white striped tie and socks that go with the uniform, but he did not. He was wearing a vest and tie of brown and yellow. Evidently, on Thursdays, his 'other club' wore their colours and he felt obliged to put them on being that it was Thursday. By the way, meal time was a great time to meet people. The Indian food was superb.

The entire course is lined with visitors. Though you can still see many in 'proper attire' this is not required as you work your way up the course. Other 'enclosures' of clubs and corporations can be seen, along with a variety of venues selling food, clothing, and other goodies.

Going to Henley isn't all about Henley and rowing. Here, the boys were giving Kate a shot at the top of a 800 year old Norman castle tower in Oxford. History is everywhere in England as the country is small and rich in it. Oxford is a 45 minute car ride away (if you dare to drive there with the traffic on the left, and the roads barely wide enough for two 'economy sized' cars.) Stonehenge is an hour away, 3600 years old or more. Shakespear's Stratford upon Avon is 90 minutes away. I can recommend a show, the matinee that Lisa, Aaron, Steve and I saw of "Romeo and Julliet" was memorable. London is about an hour by train.

One of the Oxford colleges. Traditional university has every student in a college, though the opportunity to take classes anywhere is no different than in the US. I believe even the boys were somewhat awed by the history of the place.

And when they weren't being taken over with the past, they were creating the future. Brian had reported the distance jumping contest on the 'great path' in Oxford. Here, Aaron takes a shot at it, but will fall far short of Ryan.

You can't escape the contrasts between past and present. A pub around the corner boasted a continuous tradition of serving since the 1200's. This classic tudor house on Ship street is now the home of the Nokia mobile phone outlet.

Back at the racing, the Enclosure stands provided relief from the sun and heat this year at Henley, so necessary when in blazer, tie and long sleeves and pants. The finish is just down to the left.

This is a shot of the Kent crew winning their heat on Wednesday. They were eliminated on Thursday in a closely faught heat to a boat that was then eliminated on Friday. Each day has a new programme published. It gives a brief history of the regatta and its various contests, then a summary schedule for the day. Each race is printed with the names and weights of each of the contestents, the average weight for the crew, and their colours. Then a map of 'the draw', brackets if you will showing the series of contests. Later dates fill in the brackets with the winners and prints the results in both time and distance between crews

The Kent school were the only 'juniors' in the Prince Albert, with all others (12 in all) being eliminated with our boys in the preliminary. (I can't confirm this, but one of the Kent boys was over 19 and so couldn't compete in the Princess Elizabeth cup for Junior 8's. Kent decided to make their best 4 around this senior for the Prince Albert now that it was a brand new cup to try to be the first name on it. Their diminished Princess Elizabeth 8 lost badly to Thomas Jefferson on Wednesday. Thomas Jefferson was later eliminated by the Kings School that eventually went on to lose in the finals to St. Ignatius from Chicago USA.) 8 boats were 'selected' by the Stewards and didn't have to qualify. The criteria are unclear to me, but most selected crews did advance past the first round. The Kent boys weight average was 13 stone 7. At 14 lbs a stone, that puts them 3 stone 2 over the average weight of the LM four, or 44 lbs per man. Numerous boats are eliminated from most events at the Henley in the preliminaries. In our boys race, the Prince Albert, was won by Imperial College in 7:03, 24 seconds faster than the record time from the previous year. They needed a 7:01 to make it into the finals with London University "A".

Other racing results included the Princeton University varsity 8 beating Stanford by 2 lengths and then going on to win the Ladies Challenge Plate by 3/4 of a length over Leander and Moseley. Oxford Brookes beat the Cornell Lightweights by a length that had previously squeeked by the Cal Berkeley Freshman Heavyweights in the Temple Cup.

A close race as seen from the Stewards Enclosure. Lane 1 has a quarter of a length lead as noted on the progress board.. It is hard not to get swept up in the racing with two crews, closely matched, racing so close to you. The crowd can get into it too.

The competition is also very high quality. This is the dutch national team on their way to victory in the Grand Challenge cup. Note the many different kinds of boats along the river. The booms keep the boats back, the waves down, and a hazard for the crews that are racing. There was more than one announcement of 'boat wreck' that means a boat having hit the booms.

The US Women's national 8 won the Remenham cup pretty easily over the Dutch and the English national teams. There are 3 women's events, all populated with elite oarswomen. A French Olympian beat and Dutch Lightweight Olympian in the single. All the other women racing at Henley race in the women's Henley a couple of weeks earlier. I hear that it is a shortened course of about 1500 meters and the ladies are not permitted down the last quarter mile where the Enclosure is being put up without being disqualified.

The Henley Royal Regatta is just that. A grand regatta in royal presentation. It is a superb event to strive for each year as it truely represents a peak experience for any athlete in any sport. If money was no object, it would be worth trying to go regularly just for the experience of being there in the midst of it. Despite not making it past the qualifying row over, I am sure these 5 boys have had an indelible memory of this trip to take with them forever. I, for one, was glad to be able to participate and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants a unique vacation, whether it includes the rowing or not. For those caught up with the rowing 'bug' its even more of a fantastic journey. There can be no better motivation than this to draw youngsters to LM Crew, motivate them to work hard at their athletic development throughout the calendar year, and strive to be the best that they can so that one day they too can have the opportunity to go to England and participate in the Henley Royal Regatta.

 

In finishing up, there is a lot of drinking, eating and smoking going on throughout England and at Henley, a huge 5 day party. It peaks Saturday night with fireworks and pubs openned up on their lawns or streets till 2:00 am. Lisa wanted to take this picture, impressed by the new warning signs now required with cigarettes sold in the UK. Take note athletes, smoking 'can cause a slow and painful death!"