It is that time of year again when we all shake down our old school blazers and descend on the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames for their annual regatta. The regatta is one of the oldest on the circuit, dating back from 1839 when the entire regatta took place in an afternoon. Now it spans 5 days running over the first week in July with qualifiers the Friday before. For Curlew RC, Henley is the race we aim for. We have been lucky that we have qualified for 13 out of 14 seasons to Henley and in recent years we have successfully managed to qualify two eights into the Thames Challenge cup. There are only two other clubs which have managed to qualify more eights than us, Thames RC and London…a record we are particularly proud of. 
The opening race of last year’s regatta saw Curlew A vs. Curlew B a bitter sweet draw; it was the first time in 5 years that Curlew had gotten through to Thursday, but at the expense of Curlew B. A change in coaching this year saw the emphasis move away from the eight to smaller boats with the Britannia Challenge Cup and Wyfolds the order of the day. Having made the Senior IV and Elite IV final at Met and Marlow the Brit 4 guaranteed themselves a race on Henley Thursday. The Wyfold 4 have it all to do this coming Friday at Qualifiers, there are 14 slots up for grabs and Curlew go off at 4.40…if people are around this Friday and are a loose end, please come and support our boys…cheering on the bank will be much appreciated.
For those rowers who are looking at racing at Henley, Curlew has a strong tradition of qualifying crews to the regatta…please drop us a line and we will be in contact.
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Henley Picnic:
The Friday of Henley is traditionally old boys/girls day where old friends and team mates meet up- and Curlew is no exception, we will be hosting our annual Curlew Picnic at 1pm in Remenham Field.
The picnic will include food and all the pimms you could possibly fit inside yourself.
It would be great to see as many old and new faces there…
Please contact anitajeff1@gmail.com for further information.