HENLEY-ON-THAMES, U.K. – Washington's national champion men's varsity eight crew lost to Oxford Brookes University & Taurus Boat Club in the final of the Henley Royal Regatta Grand Challenge Cup in heart-breaking fashion, as the Huskies' oars made contact with the booms on the edge of the race course midway through the race, bringing the boat nearly to a stop and ceding the British crew an insurmountable advantage.
The Huskies' IRA champion crew was attempting to become the first U.S. university to win the Grand Challenge Cup in 39 years, and just the second Washington crew ever to earn it, having previously brought home the trophy in 1977.
The start of the race was delayed after a Washington oar was damaged during the crew's row up-river to the starting line. After a new oar was delivered, the race got underway about 50 minutes after its originally scheduled start time.
Both crews made aggressive starts and the two shells raced neck-and-neck through the early portion of the 2,112-meter course. At the first race milestone, the Remenham Barrier (a little less than one-third of the way into the race), the British crew crossed mere feet in front of the Huskies.
Shortly after the Barrier, the UW boat drifted to the outside of its lane and the Huskies' starboard oars made contact with the booms that create the outer edge of the racecourse, bringing the UW boat almost to a stop. Following that, the margin was simply too large for the Husky crew to overcome, and the Oxford Brookes & Taurus shell rowed to a win by 3 ¾ lengths, officially.
In the Remenham Challenge Cup final later in the day, a U.S. women's eight, racing as Princeton T.C. & ARION, took on another Oxford Brookes University crew for the top women's eight trophy of the regatta.
The American crew, made up of Under-23 national team trainees (including former UW captain Holly Drapp '21) and coached by UW women's coach Yasmin Farooq, rowed a thrilling race, but the Brookes crew held them off for a ½-length victory.
WASHINGTON LINEUP
Grand Challenge Cup
Cox:
Nikita Jacobs
Stroke:
Max Heid
7:
Archie Drummond
6:
Sam Ford
5:
Giuseppe Bellomo
4:
Jonathan Wang-Norderud
3:
Cameron Tasker
2:
Harry Fitzpatrick
Bow:
Marius Bjørn-Hansen Ahlsand
