Henley Royal Regatta 2009
Henley Royal Regatta 2009 was held from Wednesday 1 July to Sunday 5 July. The regatta ran to 286 races, and the finals were rowed into a blustery headwind after a week of light breezes.
New Zealand sent a full national team for the first time and won four of the six finals it reached. A Great Britain eight, entered as Leander Club and Molesey Boat Club, won the Grand Challenge Cup.
Finals
| Trophy | Boat | Winner | Runner-up | Verdict | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Challenge Cup | Men’s eight | Leander Club and Molesey B.C. | Princeton Training Center and California R.C., USA | 6:34 | |
| Stewards’ Challenge Cup | Men’s coxless four | Leander Club and Reading University | Waiariki R.C., New Zealand | ||
| Queen Mother Challenge Cup | Men’s quadruple scull | A.Z.S. Szczecin and A.Z.S. Gorzow, Poland | Reading University and Leander Club | ||
| Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup | Men’s pair | E. Murray and H. Bond, New Zealand | S.B. Keeling and R.P. Di Clemente, South Africa | ||
| Double Sculls Challenge Cup | Men’s double scull | M.C. Trott and N. Cohen, New Zealand | M.W. Wells and S.C. Rowbotham | 1 length | |
| Diamond Challenge Sculls | Men’s single scull | M. Drysdale, New Zealand | A.W. Campbell | 8:28 | |
| Remenham Challenge Cup | Women’s eight | Leander Club and Wallingford R.C. | Yale University, USA | ||
| Princess Grace Challenge Cup | Women’s quadruple scull | Leander Club and Westminster School | Waiariki R.C., New Zealand | 3 lengths | |
| Princess Royal Challenge Cup | Women’s single scull | E. Twigg, New Zealand | G.L. Stone, USA | ||
| Prince of Wales Challenge Cup | Men’s quadruple scull | Oxford Brookes University and Durham University | Leander Club | ||
| Wyfold Challenge Cup | Men’s coxless four | Sydney R.C., Australia | Nottingham and Union R.C. | ||
| Britannia Challenge Cup | Men’s coxed four | Agecroft R.C. | Vesta R.C. | Under 1 length | |
| Temple Challenge Cup | Men’s eight | Princeton University, USA | Brown University, USA | 3/4 length | |
| Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup | Junior men’s eight | Eton College | Abingdon School | 5 lengths | |
| Fawley Challenge Cup | Junior men’s quadruple scull | Westminster School | Melbourne Grammar School, Australia |
Blank cells are verdicts and times we have not yet confirmed.
Finals still to be confirmed
Four finals are listed here with their finalists only. We have the pairings from the day’s race list but have not confirmed the winners against a published result.
| Trophy | Boat | Finalists |
|---|---|---|
| Ladies’ Challenge Plate | Men’s eight | Leander Club and Molesey B.C. v Brown University ‘A’, USA |
| Visitors’ Challenge Cup | Men’s coxless four | Mercyhurst College, USA v Isis Boat Club |
| Thames Challenge Cup | Men’s eight | Henley R.C. v Molesey B.C. ‘A’ |
| Prince Albert Challenge Cup | Men’s coxed four | Oxford Brookes University v Yale University, USA |
New Zealand’s four wins
New Zealand’s four wins all came in small boats.
- Mahe Drysdale beat Alan Campbell in the Diamond Sculls in 8:28, a slow time that reflects the headwind. The defeat denied Campbell a third Diamonds title.
- Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won the Silver Goblets from the 2008 winners, Keeling and Di Clemente. A day earlier they had beaten Britain’s Olympic champions Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge.
- Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen took the Double Sculls by a length from Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, bronze medallists in Beijing.
- Emma Twigg won the Princess Royal from Genevra Stone of the United States.
The two New Zealand defeats came against British crews, in the Stewards’ and the Princess Grace.
Other finals
Princeton’s lightweights won the Temple by three-quarters of a length from Brown’s freshman eight, a rare win for a lightweight crew in an open-weight event.
Agecroft beat an unseeded Vesta four in the Britannia. Eton College won the Princess Elizabeth by five lengths. The Fawley final between Westminster and Melbourne Grammar was the last race of the regatta.