Teddies book St Paul’s Henley Regatta final smackdown as private schools see off Sir Steve’s new clubs

An in-form St Edwards crew will challenge the much-feared St Paul's School in the final of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Regatta on Sunday, with more years needed for Sir Steve Redgrave's controversial club change to threaten the schoolboy crews who have ruled this stretch of the Thames for years.

This event has been the hot topic of the regatta this year after Henley Regatta Chairman Sir Steve oversaw sweeping changes to alter entry requirements. For decades the event had only been open to schools but, for the first time in 2023, clubs could enter the draw in a bid to fight the race's reputation as a 'private schools event'.

The former Olympian admitted the changes had been met with a little resistance as American clubs Marin Rowing Association, Greenwich Crew and Green Lake Crew, along with Llandalf Rowing Club from Wales, posed new challenges to the schools' dynasty.

However, any uprising to take the revered rowing schools’ crown will wait another year as St Paul's School prepare to face St Edward’s School in the final on Sunday.

St Paul's, three-time Princess Elizabeth winners since 2015 and defending champions, saw off competition from Shiplake College on Saturday afternoon.

Coached by former Team GB star Will Satch, the Shiplake boat put up a gutsy fight against the favourites with the thousands of fans on the Henley-on-Thames bank roaring the crews into the final stretch neck-in-neck.

Despite the Shiplake threats, St Paul's proved its reputation as a rowing tour-de-force once again with its schoolboys composed as they launched into a final burst to take the wind out of their opponents, booking a slot in Sunday's final.

Speaking after the race, Director of Rowing Bobby Thatcher told NationalWorld: "We were expecting a gutsy fight. Shiplake are real racers. We've raced them a lot this year and they row with a lot of intensity. They attack all the time. We knew that was coming."

Mr Thatcher explained that St Paul's expected the challengers to take the lead off the start and that the crew had banked on finishing the 2,112-metre course strong.

He added: "That was always the plan to kick on. From here they'll go home, recover, relax, refuel and try and forget about it until tomorrow."

Two hours later, in the second final, Radley College had the chance to set up a re-row of last year's final with St Paul’s with the small matter of national champions St Edward's School standing in their way.

Up for the challenge, and the chance of revenge in the final, support from friends and family shook the banks of the Thames as Radley boated by the hallowed Leander Club.

Not to be fazed, St Edward's carried a season of fantastic form into the semi-final and looked strong as they held off Radley with confidence in another gripping side-by-side fight. Celebrating with arms aloft once past the line, this Teddies crew mean business.

After the race and ahead of Sunday's showdown with St Paul's School, St Edward's Head of Rowing Adam Moffatt said: "We won the nationals which has been a massive confidence boost and come into this feeling really good. Winning that does everything for them, they believe in what they can do and that leads into the training they've done up to this. There's belief."

Mr Moffatt admitted that the crew would watch St Paul's race ahead of Sunday, but will restrain any temptation to get carried away. He added: "The guys will watch it [St Paul's vs Shiplake], you can't not watch it. They know us, we know them. It'll be a good race and whatever will be will be."

When asked about the introduction of clubs into the event, the coach admitted he was 'more than happy' to see the step forward and acknowledged the difficulty for stewards in policing it, but remained adamant it was the 'right decision'.

Neither St Paul's nor St Edward's had to do battle with the debutant American club crews or Llandaff R.C. but boats from those clubs did establish themselves as ones to watch in future years.

Llandaff R.C. defeated The King's School Chester on the first day while Marin from the States conquered both Dulwich College and Shrewsbury School before being knocked out by semi-finalists Shiplake.

In the week before the regatta, Sir Steve Redgrave sat down with The End of the Island podcast to explain the reasoning and reception behind the change. He said: "It's about opportunity. When the Princess Elizabeth first started, it was a private schools event.

"When we introduced the Fawley and then the Diamond Jubilee, that was definitely going to be a mixture of schools and clubs. Anybody under the age of 19 is getting the opportunity to race in it. This in some people's mind will be the biggest race they do and we weren't letting them in. It was going to happen sooner or later.

"I don't myself have any history in that event so don't have any heartstrings. Things change as they go on and it's about opportunity. We see ourselves as the biggest and best side-by-side, so why limit the categories? Let's get as many as possible racing."

Sir Steve shared that he sat down with The Kitchin Society, a group set up to 'support all directors of rowing at school boat clubs', and understood any resistance shown.

He said: "I went to speak at The Kitchin Society and one of those top schools didn't want it but it was going to happen sooner or later. Most of the people in that room are paid coaches to teach rowing at their schools, they may do other roles as well, but it's in their interest to keep it a close shop as much as possible."