The Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta was our last race after the successful college May term we had enjoyed. Since we didn't get prequalified like Mens 1st VIII from Magdalene College did because they went up 3 in the May bumps to 3rd in the first division, we had to qualify for about 30 entries among 78 contenders. So the next 3 weeks after the bumps we spent ploughing up and down the Cam in preparation.
Henley-on-Thames is an magnificent place for rowers and just to participate in the qualification race is worth the three hours drive from home. Coming down there makes you feel tiny because of the presence of all these huge professional rowers all of whom are usually well over 6 feet tall, me being 5'11". Anyway, we qualified and were exhilarated as well as relieved. Usually our strength was that we were so afraid of losing that we'd be able to pull a win out of the hat when faced with fairly formidable challenges. However, this time I was seriously afraid that we might not qualify as some of us had expressed that they had troubles getting psyched up for perhaps our very last race in this squad. The regatta was then held the following week from Wednesday until Sunday. From Cambridge we had Caius, us, Magdalene, Lady Margaret and 1st and 3rd Trinity as the only college boats that qualified or got preselected to the regatta. We drew Imperial College B as our competitor for our first race and thought "bugger it!" IC (from London) is a big boat club and very strong illustrated by the fact that their first boat won The Grand Challenge Cup at Henley. They also had boats entering for many of the other events at HRR. We only had us for The Temple Challenge Cup. However, it wasn't even their second boat we were gonna race but their development squad. So the word on the street was that we might theoretically stand a chance.
We came down to Henley two days before the event to train on the river. We stayed at a camp site just outside the little town. It was a nice coasy place which gradually transformed from a place with sleepy campers into a more and more busy site with small tents in which ladies and gentlemen managed to dress properly in strict accordance with the regatta tradition. Henley is also a very posh place. Many of the houses looked like small castles from the road and there were probably more Porsches and Jaguars than any other car brand.
On the very day the regatta began we could hear the commentator from the distant speakers which are spread all along the river bank. The races starts already at 9 a.m. Our race was in the evening and we were all careful not to waste energy walking about too much. So we took long naps in the afternoon and ate the standard boatie food: tuna, banana and bread. I guess we went down to the regatta at about 4 o'clock. As the tents with our boat was a 30 min walk away we all drove to the competitors parking lot to save ourselves from wasting energy. We then went to the cafe for the competitors and met Sue Brown, one of our coaches. She was quite merry if not a little tipsy, but nevertheless quite encouraging. People in our crew were beginning to look anxious as if they were to go to the dentist having their teeth pulled out without anaesthesia. I suggested people to enjoy it. At least that's what the bumps taught me. Of course there is a subtle line between enjoying a race and not taking it seriously. But I didn't feel I crossed it. Our boat man Jim came there as well as our boat club president, Jack Miller and his wife Marcia. All dressed up according to the regatta tradition. Together with Sue they all got seated in the big launch with the umpire that followed us in that race.
Half an hour prior to start we went out on the water warming up. The two previous days waterwork spent here proved to be worth it. We were now used to the new environment and could focus our attention on our goal. We rowed almost down to the lock before we spun and did two starts I think. The 2100m course takes about 6 to 8 minutes to race depending on the conditions. Each race is followed by a launch with an umpire and coaches or other private members from the two racing crews. Also, the race is commentated continuously and broadcasted from many loudspeakers along the race course. So although you cannot see the race you can definitly feel the thrill when the speaker says: "At the milepost Eton is now.... even with Oundle! Both crews have raised their rating to.... 39! At the regatta enclosure Oundle have raised their rating to 41 and is leading Eton ..... by a canvas!"
Absolutly poised to the combat we moved up to the start without looking at our
opponents. We were very confident about our starts and knew that this was where we were
gonna get them, if ever. So off we went and gained steadily and had clear water at the
Barrier, I think. As was the case during all of the May term we were always very fast of
the start. However, IC set in a massive push somewhere at the milepost and we only led
them by a quarter of a length somewhere having had a few spanner strokes. Anyway, coming
past the regatta enclosure we started our push for home and ended up by winning with 3/4
of a length! Sitting in the bows of the boat I was the first one to cross the finish line
and I remember coming past the post at the finish and realising that I was actually
enjoying the pain as never before. That victory made my day(s) for quite some time.
Especially because of ICBC's reputation I felt it was an outstanding achievement. The last
time Churchill won a race at Henley was ten years ago I was told. So in our small universe
we made history.
The other colleges from Cambridge were more or less annihilated by their opponents. Lady
Maggie, Magdalene, Caius and 1st and 3rd were all beaten either with the verdict
"easily" or by several lengths by their opponents which mostly were non-Oxbridge
university crews. We were lucky with our draw to some extent.
The next day in the evening we were beaten by the holders of the Temple Challenge Cup: Oxford Brookes University A. They drew away immediatly at the start even before either crew had finished their race wind up. For our pride's sake they beat us by 2½ length and was first beaten on the Saturday, the fourth day of the five days HRR lasts. That Thursday was the last time we rowed in Smart Alec under Kath Stott's captaincy. Pulling Smart Alec into the pontoon piers next to the competitors boat tents one of the regatta officials came by and discretely removed the empacher number off the bow from Alec. We were now dismissed from HRR 1996. We started derigging Alec and putting the blades aside. A Churchill bufty, J.S. Thompson, came by and congratulated us for our rows at Henley and said we shouldn't be unhappy with our achievement. After all, making it to the second round at Henley Royal Regatta as a college crew is very good and had we won the second round that would have been outstanding and unprecedented. At the time he was probably right in saying so. But given many of us had noviced only last year we were fairly inexperienced and I for one certainly could not reconciliate myself with that last defeat for quite a few months afterwards. We started our departure. The national anthem was playing in the background signalising the end of the Thursday's races and symbolising the end of the season for our crew. It was almost cheasy but we got very emotional and some crew members were even crying. Stef, Kath and I returned to Henley on the Sunday to pick up the trailer with Alec and the oars. We had a good time watching the finals of the regatta properly dressed of course. Goldie stomped on Leander in the final for the Ladies Plate. Quite a spectacular race and that was it.
Although I've raced at Henley Royal Regatta with faster crews since then that Churchill men's 1st VIII from 1996 will always mean something special to me.