Enniskillen Royal Boat Club’s 1st 8 boys had a fantastic win in the heats of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta on Tuesday afternoon against the crew from The 1863 Club from The London Oratory School.

Tom Blake, Marcus Davis Kunze, Oran Harty, Tim Murphy, Lewis Nixon, Charlie Smith, Nathan Kelly, Luke Paton and cox Frankie Reihill led from the start, held a great line down the 2,112m course despite the strong headwind and crossed the finish line at Steward’s Enclosure well ahead in a time of 7 minutes 18 seconds much to the delight of ERBC’s supporters.

The boys consequently drew winners for the last two years and the favourites for the 2022 title, Eton College in the second round on Wednesday afternoon. Again the ERBC performed strongly but were no match for the Eton crew who established an early lead which they were to maintain for the rest of the race.

All in all, though, the achievement of the ERBC crew in getting this far cannot be underestimated and it is the first time since 2015 that ERBC have raced in the very competitive Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley, having previously focused on the quads in the Fawley Challenge Cup in the last few years.

The girls also had a very tough draw in the first round heats of The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy for Junior Eights with a race against last year’s winners, Headington School late on Wednesday evening (after going to press).

The ERBC crew is Niamh Campbell, Laura Turner, Acorn Cassidy, Katie Donnelly, Aine McCaffrey, Chloe Thompson Martha McBrien, Rachel Cullinan and cox Grace Ralph

Derek Holland, Head of Rowing at ERBC said: “I was very pleased for the boys to have such a great win at Henley Royal Tuesday which settled their nerves before the mighty challenge of racing against Eton. Both of the crews will gain a lot of experience racing here to take back with them ahead of the Irish Championships in a couple of weeks’ time.”