That is, A Club Athlete's Rower's Report...
Until a couple of weeks ago, the boats were set for Henley. I was in the Thames ‘A’ crew and the 4+ were racing with George Nash. This was until the unfortunate demise of George on Hammersmith bridge, (honestly it wasn’t me, I have an alibi!) I was then bumped up into the 4+ with the wise words from Tom of ‘Just don’t F it up.’
After coming out of Marlow regatta with a second place on the Saturday, and a win on the Sunday, our confidence was high going into Henley. Luckily, the crew had done enough to impress the Stewards, and the boat was pre-qualified. This meant that we could relax and didn’t have to worry about the qualifiers on the Friday evening.
As with previous years we moved to Henley on the Monday to train on the course. This is where you get your first view of the competition. There was one crew in particular we were not too sure about, ‘The Russians.’ They had been pre-qualified by the Stewards and so must be pretty handy. Then we saw them. Huge would be an understatement. They were massive. This was definitely going to be a Rocky vs. Drago re-match.
Our first race against London went without a hitch, and after getting out in front off the start we were able to relax. At the finish I don’t think there was anyone happier than James ‘Fatty’ Foad, who announced that it was the first time he had made it through the Wednesday of Henley. To the relief of the ‘Club Rower,’ as I was now known, we had the Thursday off, as the Britt is a sixteen boat competition. 
Our second race against Henley ‘B’ was slightly different. Henley decided to opt for the well-known ‘fly and die’ technique off the start. This gave us a bit of a shock, but we were confident in our race pace, and were able to easily move through them at the barrier.
For the semi-final on the Saturday, we were up against Thames. Thames had sent the Russians packing the day before, which was a bit of a surprise. Thames were a large crew, and we knew that we had a fast start. Again, we were able to get out in front and command the race. Then we were through. None of us had ever been in a Henley final before, so this was a new experience for all of us. Oh well, no Saturday night drinking for us!
Sunday morning we were up bright and early for an outing. Henley was surprisingly quiet as most people were in bed or nursing hangovers. We got the outing done and disappeared back to the house. I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous before. The waiting around was killing us, and all we could say was ‘can’t we get on with it.’ After a couple of anxious hours we headed back to the river. We had decided back at the house, that we would go for our standard race plan. ‘Get out, stay out!’ If we could get a clean start and get ahead we were not going to let them through. Then it was time. Tom gave us our last briefing of ‘nobody want’s those red boxes more than you,’ and that was enough. We were off to the start. While waiting for the start we all decided that if Ortner started coming back through Fawley, when they moved into their good water, I would call an additional push to hold them. Then it was time. We moved onto the start and waited for the umpire. The umpire stood up and gave us our start instructions, the flag twitched and we were off. As we planned, the start was perfect and we instantly moved away from the opposition. We had got out, all we needed to do was stay out. We went through the barrier and did our push where we broke free. We then moved into Fawley, and as we thought, they started moving back, I gave the ‘up two’ call and we held them. Then we could start to hear the Remenham roar, as it is now known. With the call from Tory of ‘Ben you can join in now, and up two.’ We pushed away. As we moved into the enclosures we new it was ours, to lose it now would be a school boy error. Then we crossed the line. It’s hard to actually explain the feeling when you cross that line a winner. It’s a mix of joy and relief. All those years of training, all the early mornings and ergos, have come to this. It must also be said to remember your basic boat skills of keeping at least one hand on your blade. As Fatty soon found out when he raised both hands and swiftly found himself lying on his back with the blade under the boat. Oh well, we were winners!
As we came into the pontoon we were met by the Molesey contingent. It’s an amazing feeling having so many people just as happy as you are to have won. The support at this Henley regatta was amazing for all the crews. As Magic said in his report, thanks to all the coaches who contributed in qualifying one of the largest Molesey Henley entries ever. Also big thank you must also go out to all the families who put up with the Molesey contingent during Henley, especially Dot and crew mascot Mags. Without them, there would be a lot of very frustrated rowers sitting on Remenham hill each day.
Racing at Henley Royal Regatta is a unique experience. No matter what the standard of the rower is, the thrill of racing at Henley is the same. Until you have raced there, it is hard to explain the buzz of rowing at such a prestigious event. This year we had one win, next year lets see what we can do…. long live the Black Death!
