Record entries and record times at Henley Women’s Regatta 2022

After cancellation in 2020 and a scaled-down event in 2021, Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) was back with a vengeance for 2022 last weekend.

The premier regatta for women’s rowing had record entries, with 2 180 rowers in 521 crews taking to the 1 500m course on the iconic stretch of the river Thames in England. That included entries from 48 crews from Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA – with five international crews going home with medals.

A tailwind on finals day helped 23 course records to be equalled or broken. Brown University (USA) became the first crew ever to go under 4 minutes 30 seconds on their way to winning the Ron Needs Trophy for championship eights, beating the University of London in 4 minutes, 28.4 seconds.

Brown’s championship quadruple sculls and coxless four crews also reached their respective finals, both defeated by Henley-based Leander Club.

Beate Kaz, who sat at bow in the eight, said Brown’s squad had driven each other on.

“We got here because we’ve had a very dedicated, strong team that from the start of last summer has been pushing each other,” Kaz said.

“Being in the championship events we knew we were going up against some really strong competition, so we didn’t think winning was a shoe-in – we’re pleasantly surprised,” she added.

Sydney RC, Australia, took the Rayner Cup for junior double sculls, while a composite from the Australian National University and Huon RC of Tasmania won the Haslam Trophy for championship lightweight double sculls.

KSRV Njord won the Cathy Cruickshank Trophy for aspirational academic coxless fours, celebrating with a rousing rendition of their club song on the podium in true Dutch style. Meanwhile the Rosie Mayglothling Trophy for aspirational double sculls was won by a Dutch duo from DSR Proteus-Eretes and TSR Vidar.

Njord bow seat Mare Schulten said the event had exceeded her expectations.

“The racing was great,” Schulten said. “Knock-out races are so different than in the Netherlands where we have six boats in one race. We had the goal to win, but we didn’t know the other crews; we just went in with an open mind.”

The prizes were presented by Tokyo 2020 Olympian Imogen Grant, a world and European medallist for Great Britain in the lightweight women’s double sculls. Grant won at HWR before joining the international pathway, and she said the regatta, as a festival of women’s rowing, was close to her heart.

“Being able to come to a regatta that celebrates that year on year and produces such high-quality racing, it’s been an absolute pleasure,” Grant said.

Many of the crews racing at HWR will now go on to race at Henley Royal Regatta, where the new club, university and junior women’s 8s events have attracted large numbers of entries.

All HWR results can be found here: https://hwr.org.uk/results-archive/