A tradition in England since 1836, the Henley Royal Regatta is regarded as one of the best regattas in the world. Composed of twenty different events, the regatta took place on July 2nd and, for the first time ever, two Jesuit graduates competed in it.
In Henley, England, Jesuit’s very own Cole Reiser ’10 and Andrew Hooker ’11 competed along with their respective schools. Reiser, competing with Cal-Berkley, had been to this regatta once before four years ago. For Hooker, he competed in the Temple Cup race, one that Reiser competed in as a freshman, along with his Cornell teammates.
The Temple Cup, like every year, took place on the Thames River in England. In the competitive race, Hooker competed with about 10 other boats, each of which has had a very successful rowing season. This event consisted of rowers from colleges and universities from all over the world and is considered a prestigious event.
After Harvard became the first American team to win this event in 1996, the winners have primarily been English rowing teams, taking 7 out of the last 8 events. This year was no different, with English team “Oxford Brookes” taking the win. Although Cornell was not able to win, they had a stellar run into the semifinal.
Reiser competed with the Cal-Berkley Bears in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate at the Regatta, the most prestigious open event. The Bears competed against seven other teams from around the world on the Thames River.
One of the first events at the Henley Royal Regatta, the Ladies’ Plate has been around since 1845. The Ladies’ Plate is highly regarded as the second best event in the Regatta, and Reiser took on many countries’ National Team rather than simply university teams. In a race dominated by English teams, Reiser and the Bears looked to…and became the third American team to win in four years and to be the first Cal-Berkley team to win in several years after breezing through the semi final.
To be able to participate in this event, Cal-Berkley requires that you must win a national championship in the first weekend of June. For Reiser, winning a national championship was his main goal, and participating in the Henley Royal Regatta is more of a reward for him.
Reiser feels like his team has shown tremendous speed this year at the collegiate level. Reiser concluded with “we have a good chance of winning if we perform the way we have all year but it will certainly be a challenge.”
Jesuit Crew Coach John Fife added his thoughts about Reiser and Hooker competing in this event. “I am very impressed with both Cole and Andrew,” Fife explained, “They are both rowing at the highest level of collegiate rowing and to be as successful as they have been is a very serious accomplishment.” Fife concluded that they have put in a lot of work since Jesuit and are great ambassadors for Jesuit Crew.
For Hooker and Cornell, they were impressed with their results. Hooker stated that “we were the only lightweight boat in the temple cup so it’s hard for lightweight boats to perform well against a heavyweight boat.” Hooker and his team eventually lost to champion Oxford Brooks in the semi by only a second.
