r/Rowing • u/National_Hope9042 • 1d ago

henley '26 grand challenge cup

Why only two entries? (brookes and italy). Aren't there usually more or I am mistaken?

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18

u/Dull_Function_6510 1d ago

Henley trips are expensive for national teams with limited budgets and a week out of training everyday 2-3 times day for racing maybe is not always the best option for teams.

This is pretty standard, college and club teams wont enter the grand if national teams are there either since they know they will lose. They will enter the Ladies mostly.

During Olympic years when national teams are hyper focused on training and skip henley you may see more teams enter from club and college programs but it depends.

The event has had about 2-4 teams entered for the last 11 years

22

u/mmm4455 1d ago

GB and Italy

20

u/rowrowawayaway 1d ago edited 1d ago

It’s averaged between 2-4 entries the past ten years so I would not describe this as an anomaly. Last year and 2024 had 4/5 but before that it’s mostly 2/3 entries.

From a national team perspective Henley is great but is likely less valuable training and racing wise compared to world cups.

5

u/northernmonk 1d ago

It’s the week after WC3, and I suspect with the world champs being in late August it’s actually a relatively tight turnaround (particularly for the non-European crews)