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Summer 2003

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In England, Villanova Shines in the Women's Henley Regatta
By Greta Kropp '02

I did it. The piece of paper I held in my hand proved I graduated from Villanova. I had moved out of my apartment and while my fellow graduates moved away to start their celebration, careers or volunteer projects I moved back into a freshman resident's hall on South Campus. As I unpacked a few bags on the bare tile of a room on the fourth floor of Katherine Hall I could not help but chuckle to myself. Once again classes ended, I was still at Villanova rowing everyday, twice a day. Some might not see double practices everyday as the ideal way to spend the summer but to me there was a much greater goal at stake. 

This goal began when I was a freshman on the women's rowing team. The goal was a trip to THE RIVER. No, I am not talking about Kelly Drive and the Schuykill. I am talking about the river Thames in England and the Women's Henley Regatta. 

I had been told by the rowing masters before me to see Henley is an honor, but to row in Henley is a dream. It is a dream many rowers have, but few are able to experience. For a female collegiate rower it is a dream, which presents itself once every four years. Due to NCAA regulations of the sport of rowing, collegiate varsity rowing programs are only allowed to attend the Henley Regatta once every four years. This regulation was designed to keep universities with large budgets, which would allow them to participate in the Women's Henley every year from gaining an unfair recruiting advantage over their competition. Receiving a free trip to row every year in Europe could most certainly sway the decision of a high school student athlete. 

To row in a regatta many rowers consider the closest regatta to the Olympics, because of the level of international competition, it is not enough to wait four years. In order to attend Women's Henley, a crew must also be extended an invitation to attend by the regatta committee. 

Due to the previous success of our rowing predecessors, (Villanova placed second in the Women's Henley Regatta in 1998) and won the Nancy Seitz overall women's point trophy at the 2002 Dad Vail regatta in May, earned my team an invitation to the "big dance" of rowing. My teammates and I were blessed the rowing gods had informed me, but I had no idea really how blessed I was. 

Jetlagged and exhausted from an overnight flight from Newark, we piled into vans at London Heathrow airport and promptly fell asleep. When I awoke our van was making its way over a bridge overlooking the racecourse. I was instantly plastered to the glass of the van like a child in a candy store window. I had arrived. Henley on the Thames. To an average person it is a storybook quaint English town lined with small shops and pubs. To a rower, it is the Mecca of the rowing world. 

Henley's prestige is based on a long tradition of excellence. The first Henley Royal Regatta was held in 1839. At the time the regatta was strictly for men, until the regatta committee added a separate race for women. Every summer for two weeks the small town of Henley on the Thames overflows with thousands or athletes and spectators.

Up close the river is intimidating. Given to it by rowing greats like English royalty, national champions and Olympic medalists the Thames boasts an aura like no other river in the world. The course is just wide enough for two eights to row side by side. Measuring up to 58 feet long, with eight rowers and one coxswain, an eight is the largest boat one can race. The course is lined with giant floating wooden beams with white poles sticking straight up into the sky. From the bottom of the course looking up river it looks like a giant white picket fence had been placed in the river. Just looking at the river made me glad I was not the coxswain on my team. In rowing the coxswain is in charge of keeping the rowers together and steering the racing shell safely down the course. A task many coxswains at Henley find to be difficult, because the wooden beams can prove to be equally dangerous to both the crew's equipment and rowers.

Luckily our team had a few days to become acquainted with the Thames before we raced. We needed to adjust to the different racing style of Europeans and the Henley Regatta. In the states races are 2,000 meters long, and can include up to seven boats racing each other simultaneously. At Henley the course is only 1,500 meters long, and is a dual racing system due to the lack of space on the river.

When the first day of racing finally arrived the whole team was a bundle of nerves. The racing schedule was set up like the NCAA basketball tournament bracket with rankings and divisions. Each team raced one crew at a time. If you won you moved onto the next crew. If you lost you packed up your stuff and went home.

Our reputation for being a strong crew had earned us a bye to the second round. I had raced in hundreds of races before, but nothing close to Henley. As we made our way to the staring line I felt the butterflies in my stomach. The great thing about Henley from a spectator standpoint is the course wide open and the shore is very close which allows for close view of the entire race. This fact also made the crowd very loud and very intimidating. Sitting at the starting line the announcer called our name, "Villanova University representing the United States of American." Before we had time to catch our breath the gun went off and we were rowing down the course. Our boat pulled ahead and easily won our first race. We had won a race at Henley and advanced to the second day. Our second eight, however, drew a tough team in their first race and lost after giving the other crew a good fight.  

The third round and quarterfinals went much like our first race. With each race our nervousness disappeared and our confidence grew stronger. We kept winning races until our boat advanced to the semifinals. One more win and we would be racing for the gold. The only thing stopping us was Trinity college of Dublin. The gun went off and we raced with everything we had. I do not think I will ever forget what it felt like when I heard our teammates, family, friends, and other cheering USA, USA, USA over and over as we made our way down the course. Unfortunately, the Irish beat us by about six feet.

Although, we were disappointed, we rowed into the dock after the race with our heads held high. We were only six feet away from rowing in the finals at Henley and we had raced against some of the top crews in Europe.

It was only then, as I pulled my boat out of the water for the last time as a Villanova athlete, I realized how truly blessed I was. It was then the 5 a.m. daily practices year round; the blisters on my hands and the countless social and extracurricular sacrifices I made did not seem to matter. I was able to represent my country and my university at the Women's Henley Regatta. Although, those last strokes on the Thames will not be my last as a rower. I could not think of a better way to end my collegiate rowing career at Villanova except for maybe taking home the gold.