Not just salmon and champagne
Sometimes at Henley in the first week of July, you can imagine one reveller turning to another and, over the smoked salmon and champagne, asking why there are people rowing.
Henley Royal Regatta, with its blazers (which must not be removed even in the middle of a heat wave), hats and flowing dresses (which must not be above the knee), deckchairs and pints of Pimms and lemonade, is arguably more famous as a social occasion than a sporting event.
It's a very good sporting event too, though, and especially so this year, with the possibility of three Olympic champions not even making it to the finals.
Last year, the Great Britain squad were kept out of action as they prepared for Beijing. This year - although August's World Championships are a clear priority - six GB crews, and single sculler Alan Campbell, have entered.
Norwegian sculler Olaf Tufte will have to get past Campbell in Saturday's semi-finals. Alan has beaten him twice in World Cup events this year, and he's pretty fired up. As he tweeted recently: "I'm so excited I could pee myself."
Meanwhile, Pete Reed and Andy Hodge hope that the advantage of home water will help them overcome New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who beat them handily in the last World Cup regatta in Munich.
There are plenty of differences from international, six-lane racing as Henley is head-to-head, over a slightly longer distance and with formidable wooden booms, rather than plastic buoys, to keep you in your lane.
In Munich, they raced as Great Britain in the men's coxless pairs. At Henley, Reed and Hodge will be rowing as Molesey Boat Club and Leander Club in the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup.
You could view it as an anachronism that prevents the casual sports fan being able to work out what's going on. You may have a point, although it is also an enjoyable nugget of history in an event that dates back to 1839.
It's not all about elite sportsmen and women. (Yes, it's about women too - they've been around since 1993. Competing!) The Royal has three events for club crews and two for students.
For some of them, just getting through last Friday's qualifiers was an achievement. Others will have their sights on making it as far as they can through five days of racing. (And some of them were in action last Sunday at 430am, when 170 people swam the course in what has become yet another Henley tradition).
Campbell's club-mates at Tideway Scullers School will have high hopes in the Thames Cup for eights after Leander, who beat them in the final with a crew of GB development rowers last year, were controversially asked not to enter club events this season.
If you're taking part, donning your best outfit to watch or sitting in the office, manically hitting the refresh button on the results feed, I'd like to hear from you. Who are you watching and what are you hoping for?
It's a little late but the same goes for Henley Women's Regatta, which took place two weeks ago. Did you take part? Did you enjoy the experience? Did you manage to avoid the coaches on bikes hurtling down the towpath?
I'll be at Henley over the weekend and using Twitter (but only in areas where I'm allowed to use my mobile phone, obviously). I'm pretty excited too, but not quite as excited as Alan.
(Photo of Alan Campbell above by Sophia Hassou)
I'm Martin Gough and I cover all Olympic sports but in particular rowing, which I've been a fan of since the age of three, when I watched on TV as Cambridge sank in the Boat Race. 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~32~RS~)
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Bring on anybody who might stand against Eton too, they seem unstoppable in the Schools Event.
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yawn yawn yawn, the admission that this is more a social than a sporting occasion says it all. always interesting to compare the coverage the rowing world championships receive vs the coverage the boat race/henley receive.
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I have to admit, I will be frequenting Henley primarily for the social element. That said it is a good day out and a good opportunity to catch up with friends from school and uni that you may not have seen for a while.
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Great, toffs in boats. Can I recommend you leave the BBC and get a job for Tatler?
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Caz, I'm arguing the opposite. Some of the races this weekend could be better than World Cup events, because of the head-to-head format and the proximity and size of the crowd.
Yes, there's a social aspect but would you argue that everyone goes to Wimbledon to see Andy Murray and nobody thinks about strawberries and cream?
Rafa, Sorry if this came across as a society column. It doesn't feel like one from here. I used to row at university in Liverpool, and there weren't many toffs there.
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There does seem to be a lot of resentment here. At the very least rowing is a very physical sport, with incredible commitment required from those who compete. I for one am pleased to be able to support those people that give all that effort.
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Pity to see the usual "toffs in boats" rubbish coming out so quickly.
Hope to see Campbell do well, particularly after his disappointment at the Olympics.
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Speaking as someone who was offered the chance to compete at Henley this year but couldn't make it, the idea that Henley is more of a social event than a sporting one is fairly ridicolous. It has always been regarded as the biggest domestic regatta in the world.
That said, the whole social side of it is a bit offputting. I started rowing in N.Ireland and my new club is full of ex-public school lads who lap it up but it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
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Tally ho chaps, lets all go to good old henners and drink copious lashings of pimms.
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anyone who's ever actually been to henley rather than looked at photos of the stewards enclosure will know that it is not just "toffs" who visit the regatta in fact pretty much every social class that you can think of will be at the regatta even if completely uninterested in the sporting event. and that's fine, it all adds to the atmosphere.
but that's not to say that only the public schools and money are interested in the sport or taking part. anyone who saw the fawley cup quarter final (under 19 male quad sculls) last year between two completely state school crews which resulted in an incredibly rare dead heat and a subsequent immediate re-row and can claim that no one outside eton etc. cares is simply ignorant. the borlase and leander crew was made up of boys who have for the past 4 years trained out of two old caravans with no heating in a field where flooding is a distinct possibility. this is all year round and no one needs reminding how terrible the winter weather can be.
so fair enough if you don't enjoy the sport, but don't ever question how important this event is to those who take part.
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no one is questioning the importance of the event to those who take part - nor the social importance of it for those who attend, for what it's worth - but the question is whether coverage of it is particularly useful to those who do not take part.
i take it as read that people who participate care about the outcome - i saw clips the other day of the world cup stacking championships, who can arrange a pile of paper cups into a pyramid in the fastest time, and boy were the winners whooping it up - but when the licence fee, which apparently cannot stretch to much live football, or any live cricket, is lavished on such nonsense then of course people have a right to complain.
the bbc should be free, and possibly has a distinct role, to cover such minority sports, but when its coverage of the most popular sports is so patchy it does encourage a critical attitude towards things like henley.
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I'm certainly no toff, and I went to a Comprehensive Schooll. Yet I'm a member - yes member - of the Stewards' Enclosure at the Regatta. Why is this? Because oarsmen and women who've actually rowed in the Regatta get fast tracked into membership. None of your corporate hospitailty nonsense.
HRR is the pinnacle for most domestic club rowers, of all backgrounds. And if you're good enough, you'll qualify to race and, in due course, become a member of the body that organises the event. Which other top class sporting event (Wimbledon, MCC, Twickenham etc) has that kind of grass-roots involvement?
Sure, it practices a strict dress-code and bans mobile phones. But that helps to maintain the atmosphere of the event as unique in the British sporting calendar.
Long may it continue.
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@caz9999 -
The big difference is, to cover Henley the BBC has give one reporter five days of train tickets; total cost small (there is no rights fee). To get the football game you want to watch, they have to pay much more. The last Premiership rights deal (4 years) was about 1.7 billion pounds for the live coverage; the licence fee would only just cover that if the BBC spent no money on any other TV programme. Even the football highlights they do show likely cost more than the whole year's 'minority sport' budget.
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"when the licence fee, which apparently cannot stretch to much live football, or any live cricket, is lavished on such nonsense then of course people have a right to complain."
right...you do realise that the costs of bringing live football and cricket is hundreds of millions of pounds? and the cost of this blog covering henley regatta, the biggest domestic regatta in the world (of an admittedly minority sport), in a sport which britain is strong in and where there is a small but nonetheless real audience is simply the cost of martin gough's time (perhaps invaluable but i'm sure he wouldn't write the blog if he didn't care).
the point is, and correct me if i'm wrong, that you don't want coverage of henley regatta because there are bigger and better sports which deserve it? even though there are countless blogs both on football and cricket? you would deprive those who've dedicated literally years of their lives to row in this regatta (no exaggeration, decent crews will train 25+ hours a week at the expense of normal lives) this ONE blogs worth of coverage?
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i am aware of the economic arguments, and they are at least relevant to the debate. to be honest i would be a lot happier here if coverage of the event were restricted to the sport itself, the bbc does have this antiquarian habit of advertising the social aspects of such events (henley, ladies' day at ascot, the boat race) when they should be an utter irrelevance to all bar the attendees.
i'm sure there are some tourists who come to britain thinking it is nothing but a nation of beefeaters, morris dancers, and stripey blazered pimms drinkers, but is that really the image we wish to portray? is it a mere coincidence that cycling, a sport with far more participants nationally, and which is every bit as demanding as rowing, receives next to no coverage - or at least did receive next to no coverage until we suddenly realised we were quite good at it. where for instance is the coverage of squash - not a sport i like myself, but again a far more popular sport in the uk than rowing?
and as a final point, the argument that these people devote their lives to a physically demanding sport is an utter irrelevance. the participants can train as much or as little as they want, but as spectators we are - or should be - interested in their end product rather than the means by which they achieved that end product. sport should be a spectacle, and whether they trained hard for it or not does not add to the spectacle itself. to put it simply, no one ever decided that george best was not worth watching just because his idea of training was a packet of lamberts, a bottle of bubbly, and a dolly bird.
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The Henley Royal Regatta is one of a select few sporting events where it is possible to watch the world's best for simply the cost of a train ticket. Not only that though, with a bit of hard work and dedication it is possible to compete along side them (if not against them). Events like this should be positively encouraged, and coverage by the BBC can only help with this. While I'd love more live cricket on the BBC, I also believe that variety is the spice of life and the BBC should continue to invest in minority sports.
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So, in the spirit of concentrating on the action, any thoughts on Wednesday? Here's the timetable:
http://www.hrr.co.uk/pdisp.php?pid=318
Eton against St Paul's at 1210, hillrugby.
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"no one ever decided that george best was not worth watching just because his idea of training was a packet of lamberts, a bottle of bubbly, and a dolly bird."
right george best never trained. you seem to have some kind of need to stereotype? no doubt george loved the party but you didn't become the legend he was on the pitch without training. training and the work behind getting to the top is just as much a reason to love and respect sport as natural talent (something Best was blessed with in copious amounts as well).
social aspects, i appreciate your point but when they are more widely known to the general population than the specifics of the sport then i suppose it makes sense to discuss something that is of most interest to the most people.
finally, squash is indeed a popular sport recreationally but of how much interest is it competitively? i suspect the numbers competing in squash and rowing are actually probably similar, although this is said with absolutely no research so perfectly happy to admit i may be wrong.
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ust checked the timetable, I have a friend coxing the Queens University Belfast crew. Cambridge Lightweights could be an intresting prospect. Saw them racing at a heat in BUCA, looked pretty decent.
Last time my old school went over, they ended up against the eventual winner on Wednesday. Illustrated the importance of getting seeded if you possibly can.
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16: "the argument that these people devote their lives to a physically demanding sport is an utter irrelevance. the participants can train as much or as little as they want, but as spectators we are - or should be - interested in their end product rather than the means by which they achieved that end product."
Make the monkey dance, eh? As a spectator, I feel I should be appreciative of the skill and commitment displayed by the athletes, irrespective of whether I understand it. Rowing racing boats successfully is incredibly difficult.
I do agree that the social aspects of events like HRR are largely irrelevant for those of us wanting to follow sports coverage.
Adjusting coverage by apparent popularity is a risky idea, though - presumably the Olympics would be edited so that we never saw any Hammer Throwing and spent all our time watching another football tournament (again)?
Congratulations to my old crew, Stratford-Upon-Avon BC, who won Senior 4+ at Henley Women's!
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Caz9999, rowing also received no coverage outside of the Olympics until after 1996 and a realsisation that we were good at it! Rowing has won golds for GB at every games since 1984, a better record than any other Olympic Sport. Cyclings amazinf success has been more recent and it is right that the BBC recognise the fact that British Sports fans want to watch British success.
As for squash being more popular than rowing, I think if you look at Sport Englands Active People survey you'll see they are approximatly on a par in terms of participants. Also I'd like to pick up on your point about the end prduct being what should be of interest not the hours spent training, I agree (despite having spent hours training for rowing!) however many people are interested in the outcome. You may or may not be, but many certainly are. And the image of Britain portryed as Pimms drinking balzer wearing strawberry eaters... is that really that bad, other british stereotypes include yobs (an unfair view of our football fans in my view excpet the Scots who are amazing fans at the tournaments they do get to!) and Morris dancing beer drinkers eating roast beef.
I would hope that the BBC can find time for more cycling/ sqaush (a sport I beleive the UK is very successful at)/ rowing/ etc not less for rowing to bring it on a par with these other sports.
Pity they can't get a bit of live football though.
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Time for a re-write on that second paragraph. HRR Twitter feed reads: "Due to soaring temperatures, gentlemen attending today's Regatta have been given permission to remove their jackets. An uncommon occurence."
http://twitter.com/henleyregatta
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Hillrugby99 - in case you've missed any of the results, Eton have indeed taken the PE Cup by the horns.
They won their heat (setting 2 course records in the process) and are the fastest school VIII by 11 seconds (so far). They meet Hampton in the next round tomorrow, who are the 2nd fastest crew. Looking at the times posted today, Eton should go all the way...
Floreat Etona.
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Thank you for offering coverage of this beautiful and neglected sport. It was my honor and pleasure to participate in Henley in 1980 as a cox for Trinity College Dublin and in 1981 for Cornell University (USA). Far from being a toff round-up, the regatta is an intense sporting spectacle. The screams of the crowd at the finish in 1980 as my boat (sadly) lost to Yale by a hair drowned out my own voice over the boat PA.
HRR is an English national treasure. I wish I could go back!
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oh Caz999, the world would be a very boring place with more people like you. The racing at HRR can be nothing short of spectacular, in paticular this year the Diamonds single sculls, and the tradition and atmosphere make for an enjoyable day watching proper athletes. I'm looking forward to adding to the Remenham Roar on Friday myself.
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Eton have just broken their day old record to Barrier, beaten Hampton "easily", and recorded the fastest time of the day in the PE Cup.
They seem unstoppable and, incredibly, 5 of the crew will still be in the school next year so they should be quite a tasty outfit at Henley 2010, too...
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Edit: I tell a lie; the times have been revised, and Eton did NOT break the record!
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Does anyone know if Reed will continue to stroke the M2- after their HRR defeat and what if any the perceived benefit of the change was?
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They said at the time it was just for the week but from the interview they gave this week it sounds like they'll try at Lucerne and make a call after that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/rowing/8140066.stm
I'm guessing here but the more powerful rower tends to go further forward in a small boat so that may be a reason for the switch. Hodge now steering, which isn't easy to slip into, as you can also see in the link above.
World Champs crews to be announced a week today, which will be interesting if form doesn't pick up in Lucerne.
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