Henley Veteran Regatta: Alumni Team Rows Today!

A shell and oars are the competitive tools that a nine-member alumni crew will  use in the UK's Henley Veteran Regatta--some for the fourth time. Nearly the same crew  represented MIT at Henley 40 years ago. They compete today, July 10, and if they win, they compete tomorrow as well. Check the results of their E8 event online.

"In 1969, we won our first three races and lost in the semifinals," says Bruce N. Anderson '69. "In 1989, four of us returned to Henley and raced again. We got creamed (by crews 20 years younger than us!) In 1999, all nine of us returned to Cambridge to row in the Head of the Charles (our 30th anniversary); we’ve been racing every year since at the Head, with one to three 'spares' replacing oarsmen of the original crew that couldn’t make it that year. In 2003, most of the original crew returned to Henley to race again. We lost in the finals."

The Henley Veteran Regatta, hosted at Upper Thames, is an internationally recognized event for veterans or masters crews, held on the weekend following the Henley Royal Regatta.

"One of the highlights of our university experience was racing in the Thames Cup at Henley in 1969," John Malarkey '71. "This year, we are all over 60 but for one young lad in his 30s. (He will have to pull extra hard, since he brings our average age down such that we are in category E rather than F!)  We will be coming from California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington DC, Ohio, and Surrey.  Reading Rowing Club has very graciously hosted us and provided us with equipment, and we hope to do their colours proud, as well as our own."

MIT’s connection to the regatta began even earlier. Read an archived Technology Review article that describes the 1954 and 1955 results when two MIT lightweight crews  won back-to-back international championships.

Update July 13 Alas, our guys lost. "We raced a fine and fast race but they were finer and faster," says Anderson.