James Quinn wrote:

Sculler wrote:

This is moving away from the actual topic, any meaningful discussion and heading to a name calling playground. 

Top end students - those in full-time training and/or top programmes do not have a place in club events. 
The point about increasing quality is true, yes. But, the way to do that isn't to bring in top athletes and pretend they are of club quality and shove away smaller clubs hopes to even see day 1. If you have to bring in students are you competing in the club event or are you reducing it to who has the best contacts? 

A caveat to this is, of course, what do you do with students who are showing huge promise but their university club is not deep enough to field a boat? Perhaps for some individuals, they should make the case to the stewards if they are a sole competitor of the institution and/or there is no other way for them to compete to be allowed in club boats. But, club boats full of students is daft (we could argue one from here one from there comes under that etc) perhaps there needs to be a limit on the number of them allowed in boats similar to past club event winners rule that came in? 

Thames did a fantastic job and proved themselves worthy of the intermediate event - Thames is on its way to being an intermediate event factory. At some point in the future, the Thames name will be for intermediate events only and they will need to begin looking at a paper club to pump athletes into the club event. 
 

Hey Dustin,

I have a great idea. Maybe immigration officers should ask everyone coming into the country if they are Americans coming to race at Henley in club events. If they are they should be deported. Sent right back from whence they came. I think this is the only way to make sure that this is taken care of. What do all of you think?

We can't haven them in the country at all costs. If they land here who knows what they will do. First our club events, what next our women?

Lock your wives up!

I am a British student and this is pretty good/ok banter. BIG. 

If a student finishes uni in December and joins a club can they be a 'genuine' club rower? What if they don't work until after the summer? Seems pretty unfair to me!

The Owl wrote:

What you just described is a graduate, not a student.

But anyway, when you say "join a club":
- if you mean that they turn up at the club at xmas, train at the club for 6 months, row with the club in heads and regattas, then nobody is going to have a problem with that
- if you mean that he continues to train with his uni until the 2nd week in June, then flies back to the UK and visits his "club" for the first time, then that doesn't really count as "joining a club" to me.
 

Owl you have a lot to say. you seem like a threatened little bird.  

As we wait in anticipation for the entries to be released I was looking back at last years entries and had a few thoughts.

On the one hand I'm against students doing scratch crews in club events, why would you have the split? But then on the other hand we all want proper competition in each of the events. The main reason there are entry restrictions on the club events is to push people up to the Int and Elite events. Last year the Elite and Int events had very healthy numbers (maybe not the Ladies with 4). So of the roughly 2000 athletes entered for the male "adult" events, about 250 were in Elite and another 250 in Intermediate events, 800 in club and 800 in Academic. That does seem like a fairly good split. Would people agree?

So entries are up.

Taurus not in the Brit

Elizabethan and Team Keane both in the Plate.