Henley Rowing Club

Founded 1839

Two members from Henley Rowing Club had a superb end to the rowing season by being selected to row for Great Britain in the Junior European championships, also known as the coupe de la jeunesse.

After competing in the gruelling trials process throughout the year, Hannah Smith – Willis was selected to row in the coxless four, winning two silver medals, and Becky Griffiths in the double scull, coming fourth and sixth.

The event took place from the 23^rd – 25^th of July in Ravenna, Italy with eleven national teams competing. The event was preceded by various training camps around the country to bring together the crews before leaving for Italy to acclimatise to the hot, humid conditions.

The event began on Saturday but due to poor conditions only the heats could be raced, putting a lot of pressure on the teams for the next day.

The coxless four final was highly contested, with serious competition from Italy, France, Holland and Switzerland. With an explosive start three crews emerged at 250m gone with half a length on field, including the GB four.

For the first 1km, the Dutch national team had a length over the field, behind them, a length separated the other crews. As the boats rowed through the 750m to go, the GB crew were in second place but only half a length ahead of the Italians, who are renowned for an extremely fast finish. The girls then put in a massive push and increased their stroke rate to 37 to power past the Italian crew. This push paid off as the GB four then had clear water on Italy by 500m to go. With solid rating and long strokes the Italian finish had little effect on the GB girls as they crossed the finish line ahead to take the silver medal.

A similar turn of events occurred in the second race, held only an hour and a half later, which was a superb result for the GB squad and an outstanding achievement for the individuals.

The women’s double scull had a good race in their heat on Saturday qualifying for the final that had to be held the following day. The GB double had an excellent start, taking an early lead on the field. At the 1km all the crews were level again with the GB girls still fighting hard for the medals.

By 500m to go crews from France, Holland, Italy and Portugal had taken a lead. With the finish line fast approaching the GB double had to dig deep in a final attempt to race their way into a medal position.

In the last 250m the GB crew managed to row down the Portuguese double in an exciting finish. Their determination sadly didn’t get them into the medals but this was still an impressive row in this tough sculling event.

In their second final the double had an equipment failure, still doing well to beat the Slovenian double but coming in 6^th place, a position that didn’t reflect the girls ability.

The contribution by all the girls’ crews allowed the GB squad to win the women’s trophy in the championships beating France by only two points.