There has been many sporting events called off or postponed in the last year – one of them being Henley Royal Regatta (HRR). Last year, in 2020 marked the third time the annual race was to be called off, the first two being the world wars.
The statement (that can be found on the HRR website) informed us “with much sadness and regret, the committee of management of Henley Royal Regatta has agreed that the 2020 regatta must be canceld.”
This didn’t come as a shock, as the worldwide pandemic wasn’t exactly getting any better, but this did destroy many athletes hopes and dreams to race on the famous course.
Now a year has passed since that message was sent out, and there has been an update. “As a result of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee of management of Henley Royal Regatta has reluctantly concluded that the 2021 Regatta cannot be held from 29 June to 4 July at Henley on Thames as originally planned. However the committee has decided against outright cancelation at this stage, and is instead exploring the potential to stage the regatta in august, in Henley should conditions allow, or if not, at Dorney Lake.”
This is great news as it gives us athletes something to plough towards. Due to the pandemic there’s still going to be many problems to get around. With increasing numbers of new variants and countless countries going into the ‘red zone’, no one can travel too or from these places. will it be difficult to have the oarsmen and women participate in the event as internationals?
A lot of the competitors in the race wont be Olympic level, but will be club talented athletes. Could this stop them from coming over, as being an athlete isn’t their job title? We have seen the European Rowing Championships take place in Italy earlier this month, but these athletes are top of their game, ‘professionals’ , therefore they can travel to such events. Could we be seeing a HRR with only world class rowing stars against ‘Only’ UK club and university crews?
I do believe that the international crews will be able to attend, as they are not coming on holiday, but attending an international sporting event. They have trained hard, and obviously deserve to come if they have qualified to race. The whole Regatta itself will be completely different this year anyways because of all the regulations and guidelines people must follow.
This also makes me think, where are these international crews going to stay? Yes, by then hotels and other forms of overnight stays will be running smoothly ‘I hope’ but from my experience Henley on Thames is a small town. when I went with my crew we stayed in someone’s house, and the house owner said her neighbour has a German crew. This was 2019 however, in the midst of a pandemic would you want an international crew coming over into your house to stay for a week. Okay they would of been tested and most likely had some form of vaccine but for some people the fear of the virus could still be there. I, personally wouldn’t mind (if I had a ginormous house) but I would still have a few concerns.
I’m not saying any of this will happen, its just some thoughts that came to mind about what could possibly happen the this world renowned regatta. Obviously the fait lies within the next few months as anything could happen from now till then.
This also links in with the 2020 now 2021 Olympic Games as they have postponed, and are possibly in the talks of complete cancelation. However that’s a talk for another time.
Bernard.St 