Five wins for New Zealand at Henley Royal Regatta
After five days of racing, New Zealand crews took five wins at the finals of Henley Royal Regatta, including The Remenham Challenge Cup (women's eight), The Grand Challenge Cup (men's eight), The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup (women's pair), The Stonor Challenge Trophy (women's double) and The Princess Royal Challenge Cup (women's single).
The 2019 Henley Royal Regatta broke records again this year with 660 entries, an increase of almost 100 on the benchmark set in 2018, with 159 overseas crews representing 17 nations, around 1900 athletes.
Multiple New Zealand clubs and athletes competed at the regatta 3-7 July, including Rowing NZ elite athletes and the New Zealand Defence Force King’s Cup crew.
Remenham Challenge Cup
New Zealand’s Waiariki Rowing Club Remenham Challenge Cup crew of Jackie Gowler, Ella Greenslade, Kerri Gowler, Beth Ross, Lucy Spoors, Kelsey Bevan, Emma Dyke, Grace Prendergast and Caleb Shepherd (coxswain) beat Leander Club and Imperial College London in the women’s eight final on Sunday local time.
Grand Challenge Cup
New Zealand’s Waiariki Rowing Club Grand Challenge Cup crew of Hamish Bond, Mahé Drysdale, Stephen Jones, Shaun Kirkham, James Lassche, Matt Macdonald, Brook Robertson, Philip Wilson and Sam Bosworth (coxswain) beat Leander Club and Oxford Brookes University in the men’s eight final on Sunday local time.
Mahé Drysdale also competed in the Diamond Challenge Sculls but was knocked out in his heat.
Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup
Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast beat China’s X. Lin and R. Ju in the Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup final.
The Stonor Challenge Trophy
Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe beat China’s S. Lu and Y. Yang in the Stonor Challenge Trophy final.
Donoghue and Loe raced New Zealand’s Sam Voss and Hannah Osborne in their heat, knocking the second Kiwi crew out.
Princess Royal Challenge Cup
Emma Twigg won the final of the Princess Royal Challenge Cup against L. I. Scheenaard of the Netherlands.
Double Sculls Challenge Cup
Chris Harris and John Storey placed second in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup after J.E. Collins and G. E. Thomas won the final by one length.
King’s Cup
The King’s Cup commemorates the Centenary of the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta. Crews from the original six nations of Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, will be joined by Germany and the Netherlands, to compete in a knock-out format over the final three days of the 2019 Regatta.
New Zealand’s crew faced Germany in their heat and placed second. Germany went on to face United States Armed Forces in the final, with the United States taking the win.
Visitors’ Challenge Cup
Competing under Waikato Rowing Club and Tauranga Rowing Club, M. O’Leary, C. Rogerson, A. Dickinson and W. New contested the Visitors’ Challenge Cup and were knocked out in their heat.
Thames Challenge Cup
Competing under Wairau Rowing Club, T. Gregory-Hunt, A. Wakefield, T. O’Reilly, F. McSwiney, T. Sele, C. Porteous, K. Neville, J. Earl and M. Dessoulavy (coxswain) contested the Thames Challenge Cup and were knocked out in their heat.
Fawley Challenge Cup
Competing under St Peter’s College, Auckland, B. Franich, H. Fitzpatrick, S. McHugh and T. Berry contested the Fawley Challenge Cup and were knocked out in their heat by Leander Club B.
Wyfold Challenge Cup
Competing under Aramaho Whanganui Rowing Club, H. Pawson, H. Maxwell, T. Monaghan and L. Watts contested the Wyfold Challenge Cup and were knocked out in their heat by London Rowing Club.
All five days of the regatta can be watched on demand on YouTube.
Results and photography are available here.