King's Students join the action at Henley Royal Regatta
With the start of second day of the international renowned Henley Royal Regatta, several King’s university students are set to join the action at arguably the world’s most famous annual rowing event.
Like The Championships at Wimbledon, Henley Royal Regatta is synonymous with the British summer sporting calendar, drawing competitors from across the world. A tough 5 day knock-out format see’s rowing crews race in “gladiatorial style”, head to head, with the winner progressing through to the next day’s round of racing, and ultimately a final come day five.
Already one round into the competition at this year’s regatta is King’s Sport Performance Athlete and medicine undergraduate James Richards, who will stroke the University of London A crew in the Temple Challenge Cup (student and academic men’s eights) this afternoon against Kent School, USA, having already overturned Eton College during Wednesday’s racing. A seeded crew, the University of London Boat Club, boasts an impressive record at Henley having won 43 trophies throughout their history, and will be aiming to compete for further silverware this week.
The University of London men's eight stroked by James Richards (second right) at the earlier Metropolitan Regatta
Alongside James is another fellow King’s Sport Performance Athlete Daniel Hawkes, who will begin his regatta campaign today, along with fellow King’s College London Boat Club rowers, Tom Baxter, Cameron Bullock, Simon Deacon and cox Robyn Lewis, as they take on strong perennial competitors Oxford Brookes in the opening round of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup.
Competition in this category - made up of national and international academic and student men’s coxed fours - is frequently oversubscribed prior to the regatta beginning, and this year was no different, with the KCL coxed four having to race through qualifying timetrials last week in order to guarantee selection to the regatta.
The King's College London celebrate success at the 2015 Metropolitan Regatta
To date, the King’s crew have enjoyed a successful summer rowing season, in particular winning Intermediate 3 Coxed Fours category at the Metropolitan Regatta at the end of May.
Now competing in a field that includes entries from rowing powerhouses such as Havard and the University of Washington, the King’s students, all of whom learnt to row since arriving at university, will be tested once again in what is the rowing season's most prestigious regatta.
Racing timetable Thursday 2nd July – Day Two, Henley Royal Regatta:
Temple Challenge Cup - 14:30
University of London A vs Kent School, USA
Prince Albert Challenge Cup – 17:30
King’s College, London vs Oxford Brookes B
Races are shown live via YouTube here