HRR Racing Preview
All of a sudden, Henley Royal Regatta 2025 is upon us. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating last year’s success from Henley and the Paris Olympics. The new season and first year of the Olympiad has gone quickly. A large turnover in athletes at the national training centre, Leander being the lead provider, has meant that a new crop of athletes has joined the team looking to make their mark at HRR and hopefully the senior team in years to come.
Leander has up to 25 crews entered across many different events and disciplines at the 2025 Regatta. From Senior team athletes, Olympic medallists and U23 trialists, Leander rowers will take to the HRR course for head-to-head battles in the fight for overall victory on Sunday 6 July.
- All crew photos will be published on our HRR microsite, here. Please follow their progress there through the week!
PREMIER OPEN EVENTS
The Grand Challenge Cup (Open M8+)
This Leander composite crew with Oxford Brookes is the current GBR Senior team crew. Fresh off wins at both Europeans and World Cup 1 they will be looking to secure victory on home water over Australia, The Netherlands and Cambridge.
The Remenham Challenge Cup (Open W8+)
Leander has five women representing in this GBR senior women’s crew. Victories at both Europeans and World Cup 1 make them the favourites and they will be looking to add a Henley win to their already successful season.
The Stewards Challenge Cup (Open M4-)
The senior men’s four for GBR has a mixture of Leander and Oxford Brookes athletes. From Europeans to World Cup 1 they have made big steps in boat speed and no doubt they will be one of the leading contenders in this event at HRR 2025.
The Town Challenge Cup (Open W4-)
Leander has four crews entered in this event. Most notably, the Leander and Reading University Composite crew is the GBR senior women’s four. Olympic Bronze medallists Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart and Heidi Long are joined by Daisy Bellamy as they take on leading Dutch and Australian crews.
The second Leander composite crew is an up-and-coming U23 crew whilst the two full Leander crews are club-based women who will be taking on qualifiers this Friday.
- Leander A – Bow: Sophie Chumas, 2: Emma Sherwood, 3: Muryn Greene, Stroke: Jemima Furness
- Leander B – Bow: Hannah Roetger, 2: Bronte Holden, 3: Emma Noble, Stroke: Pippa Jamieson
The Queen Mother Challenge Cup (Open M4x)
Medal success at both Europeans and World Cup 1 means that this Leander / Nottingham composite will be looking to stamp their authority in this field on home water. Stroke seat Rory Harris is no stranger to this course having won multiple times in The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup.
The Princess Grace Challenge Cup (Open W4x)
The Leander women’s sculling squad this year has been very strong this season and as a result, lead athletes have made their step into the British Senior team. This crew, stroked by Danelia Price-Hughes, is newly formed. An injury on training camp has meant that unfortunately Katie Mole will not be racing, but the crew is fortunate to have Amelia Hempleman-Adams step in fresh off her A-final performance against Olympic Champion Imogen Grant at HWR 2025. Racing in this event gives our female scullers the opportunity to put themselves up against the best in the world and we are excited to see them perform.
- Bow: Franny Hunt-Davis, 2: Amelia Hempleman-Adams, 3: Rosa Thomson, Stroke: Danelia Price-Hughes
The Double Sculls Challenge Cup (Open M2x)
Two club-based crews will be taking to the water this Friday in the hope of qualifying for the regatta. The third Leander entry is the current GBR men’s double of Gare and Schroeder who will be looking to build on their international race experience so far this season.
- Leander A – Bow: Dan Jones, Stroke: Bryn Ellery
- Leander B – Bow: Josh Lomas, Stroke: Alex Clack
The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup (Open W2-)
Juliette Perry and Lizzie Wit have been progressed into the national team set up via the development program at Leander. This season Perry has raced in both the European Championships and World Cup 1 coming away with a gold medal in the women’s eight at both events. This crew has yet to race as a pair, but they are no strangers to the Henley course and the challenges it can throw at them.
INTERMEDIATE EVENTS
The Ladies Challenge Plate (Intermediate M8+)
The ‘Plate Eight’ has been slowly building and keeping their powder dry behind closed doors in the run up to HRR 2025. They raced at Met Regatta finishing in a strong second place behind the Cambridge Grand crew. Banyoles was a successful training camp where they continued to build speed throughout the two weeks away. This crew has shown some blistering speed in training, and we are excited to see them hit the track on their home water.
- Bow: Jack Prior, 2: Alexander Abuhoff, 3: Thibaud Turlan, 4: James Cartwright, 5: Kenny Coplan, 6: Levin Graf, 7: Ethan Blight, Stroke: George Reed, Cox: Hermione Hill
The Bridge Challenge Plate (Intermediate W8+)
With the event in its inaugural year, Leander have two crews entered. The lead boat is a composite crew with both the University of London and Durham University. All athletes in this boat are on the development pathway and will be looking to make their mark on the senior team for LA 2028 & Brisbane 2032. A relatively new crew formation, they had a successful Banyoles training camp before making their debut at Henley Women’s Regatta, taking the overall win in Championship eights. Competition for this new event will be fierce but the Leander women are eager to make their mark in history.
The second crew is made up of athletes who have returned from their US universities and love to come back to the club and compete for the club. It’s always a pleasure to welcome them back and to continue to provide them some racing experience this summer.
- Leander / Durham – Bow: Anna Grace, 2: Phoebe Snowdon, 3: Katherine George, 4: Lauren Carey, 5: Georgie Robinson Ranger, 6: Zoe McKellar, 7: Abby Topp, Stroke: Philippa Emery, Cox: Erin Kennedy
- Leander – Bow: Kathryn Burton, 2: Tabitha Hall, 3: Isabel Kelland, 4: Sofia Nielson, 5: Emily Simmons, 6: Rosemary Varney, 7: Freya Weiser, Stroke: Matilda Macartney, Cox: Filippo Wiesenfeld
The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (Intermediate M4x)
This is an event where the Leander men have had much success over recent years. Returning to the crew and bringing their experience are Jack Keating and Oliver Costley and joining them is Jamie Hinton-Daniels. Dominic Fredericko from Mercantile completes this line up. These men have had recent success at Met Regatta and placed third at Marlow regatta putting them in prime spot to target the overall win at HRR.
- Bow: Jamie Hindle-Daniels, 2: Oliver Costley, 3: Dominic Frederico, Stroke: Jack Keating
CLUB EVENTS
The Thames Challenge Cup (Club M8+)
‘The Cuppies’ as they are known amongst the team. These men joined on the gap year program before taking on their university careers starting in September 2025. The Met and Marlow Regattas saw them very competitive in high standard field. At Marlow Regatta they won the time trial overall, before placing fifth in the Final. These young lads are eager to get their HRR 2025 campaign underway and we couldn’t be more excited to see them perform.
- Bow: Rupert Apps, 2: Callan Ogilvie, 3: William McClean, 4: Matt Fielding, 5: Christian Lawrence, 6: Earl Marvin, 7: Byron Richards, Stroke: Alex Logan, Cox: Peter Litwin
The Wargrave Challenge Cup (Club W8+)
Competition for this women’s club eights event has been fierce throughout the season which has made selection very difficult for the coaches. They formed early in the season and demonstrated excellent speed at the Women’s Eights Head of the River, coming away with a top 10 finish. Their regatta season has been competitive, and they have recently finished a strong Banyoles Camp. At the recent Henley Women’s Regatta, they got knocked out in the Quarter Finals to Thames who went on the lose to our lead Bridge eight in the final. This crew is always up for the fight, and they love nothing more than side-by-side racing!
- Bow: Amy Salesky, 2: Isy Hawes, 3: Jordan Kingston, 4: Sian Hinton-Woodier, 5: Emily Downing, 6: Charlotte Fennell, 7: Izzy Sellers, Stroke: Olivia Caesar, Cox: George Farthing
JUNIOR EVENTS
The Fawley Challenge Cup (Junior M4x)
The premier Junior quads event at HRR has a record number of 73 crews entered for this year’s event. Leander has two crews entered of which both will look to earn their spot racing at the regatta at this Friday’s qualifiers.
- Leander A – Will Eaton, Willem van den Eerenbeemt, Alfie Webb, Ziggy Vizgirda
- Leander B – Miles Denning, Max Mustoo, Harry Catlin, Alex Didaskalou
On Friday 27 June HRR Qualifiers will begin from 2pm.
Stay tuned to our social media during the regatta to find out who will be racing and at what times on each day of the regatta. We will be updating results and race times daily on the website, and on the race card on the garden noticeboard.
