(Photo by Jaela Eaton)

Leander Too Much for Great Eight, and Everyone Else

Seeking redemption with a boat filled with Olympians, the Leander Club of Henley-on-Thames won the Women’s Championship Eights on Sunday, winning back the Governor’s Trophy they had won in 2022 and lost a year ago to USRowing.

Leander’s winning time was 15:30, three seconds faster than Yale. A pair of boats from the University of Washington followed in fourth and fifth. The lightweight scullers Great Eight, rowing as the Skibbereen Club, was sixth.

This was the first race back in the boat for many of the Leander rowers since the Olympics in Paris.

“We had a little break,” said Annie Campell-Orde, the Paris bronze medalist who sat in the stroke seat. “But then we all got persuaded that it would be really fun to come. So we have trained, but perhaps not as hard as maybe we should have, based on how painful it was.”

(Photo by Jaela Eaton)

Up to 400,000 fans come to the race each year, and, like most visitors to the Charles, Leander was fired up by the cheers.

“Every bridge you passed under, there was just so much support, so much energy, so you’d go under and bridge and be like ‘ugh,’ and then suddenly, you’d just be lifted because the energy was coming, people were shouting for you,” said Emily Ford, also part of the Paris bronze medal team, sitting in four here.

Ford mentioned her surprise at this excitement for a boat from England, not America. “Even though it is in America, everyone wanted everyone to do well, which I thought maybe it might be a bit silent for us because obviously we’re not a local club, but it was so nice.”

Campbell-Orde and Ford attributed their team’s success to coxswain Henry Fieldman.

“We had Henry Fieldman coxing, and that’s a real golden ticket,” said Campbell-Orde.

Fieldman is a double Olympic medalist, and the only athlete to have medaled in both  men’s and women’s rowing. He coxed the Team GB women to bronze in Paris and the men to bronze in Tokyo.

The Great Eight couldn’t match Leander’s speed. (Photo by Elli Einset)

This was the first Head of the Charles for both Cambell-Orde and Ford.

For Campbell-Orde, the picturesque nature of the Charles River made the race memorable. “It’s so beautiful. I don’t know if people get used to it being here. I mean the photos and that, it’s just insane.”

Ford said that she heard someone describe the race as “rowing Christmas” because of all the energy and love for the regatta.

“It’s so cool to have so many people coming to such a big event,” said Ford. “Everyone’s attending, everyone’s having such a good time, and it’s so good for the sport of rowing.”