Edinburgh University Boat Club Heads for Henley Royal Regatta
After another successful year, the University’s Boat Club (EUBC) prepare to compete at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta from 3 – 7 July.
Founded in 1839, Henley Royal Regatta is one of the oldest and best-known regattas in the world. EUBC come into the Regatta fresh from a successful season, which has seen them not only take a convincing victory in the Scottish Boat Race, but has also seen the Club compete successfully at the BUCS Regatta, with medals in eight Championship events. There have also been victories at the Scottish Championships and Henley Women’s Regatta and a number of individual rowers have have successfully claimed places on Great Britain teams for International events later in the season..
Henley is the highlight of our domestic season, and can be the highlight of a rower’s career, whether that just be qualifying for the Regatta or claiming one of the coveted ‘little red boxes’ on Finals day. We have a number of athletes across a wide array of events this year, indicative of the breadth and depth of talent in the club, and we are confident of seeing some top performances
The University of Edinburgh will have representation in eight crews across five events for the five day regatta:
In the Princess Grace Challenge Cup (Open Women’s Sculls)
Under 23 World Champion Lucy Glover heads to Henley fresh from winning the Championship Double Sculls at Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) with Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne of the University of London, her fourth consecutive win at HWR. This week she will compete as part of the proposed Great Britain under 23 Quadruple Scull, the boat class in which she won gold in Bulgaria last year.
Laura McDonald, who won the Aspirational Single Sculls at Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR) just two weeks ago, will row with a crew from Sydney University.
In The Remenham Challenge Cup (Open Women’s Eights)
Flora Blake-Parsons, who was part of the first ever Edinburgh University Women’s crew to qualify for the Regatta in the same event at last year, will this time compete in a composite crew with Molesey Boat Club
The Prince Albert Challenge Cup (Student Men’s Coxed Fours)
This holds great memories for the club, providing as it did the first victory for EUBC, and indeed any Scottish University, in the whole 177 year history of the event when they claimed victory in 2016. Rosie Margolis was the cox of that crew, and returns again, this time with Harry Gething, Eddie McDiarmid, Laurence Ellis and Matt Christie.
In the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (Intermediate Men’s Quadruple Sculls)
Edinburgh will feature in no less than 3 composite crews, made up of Great Britain International hopefuls.
Matthew Curtis, recent winner of the prestigious Cameron Blue award, will team up with James Temple and Gavin Horsburgh, both fresh back Great Britain senior team duty at the World Cups in Belgrade and Linz. They will race with double World under 23 medalist Ben Reeves from Oxford Brookes University.
First year Dale Flockhart will race with athletes from Newcastle University and Leander club in a Lightweight crew which is looking to be selected to represent Great Britain at the under 23 World Championships later this summer.
Also looking to perform well and impress the GB selectors will be Junior World Champion Josh Armstrong, racing with crew mates from Nottingham and Durham in what could prove to be one of the favorite crews for the event.
The Ladies’ Challenge Plate (Intermediate Men’s Eights)
This will feature World under 23 Silver medallist Oli Wilkes, racing in a composite crew with Oxford Brookes University as he looks to claim a spot on the Great Britain team for the World University Championships in Shanghai later this summer.
Edinburgh University Boat Club's High Performance Programme is recognised and supported by the GB Rowing Team and funded through the National Lottery.
EUBC aims to develop athletes to national and international standard, whether they arrive as experienced juniors or complete novices, and has a track record of coaching rowers to challenge for a place in the GB Rowing National Squads and is committed to Rowing's World Class Performance Strategy.
Find out more about the Performance Rowing Programme at University of Edinburgh http://edinburghrowing.co.uk/
Find out more about Henley Royal Regatta https://www.hrr.co.uk/
Keep up to date with the all the news from the Henley Royal Regatta at @uoesport on Twitter.