Mike Sweeney will Retire as Chairman of HRR

Mike Sweeney, chairman of Henley Royal Regatta. Photo: Tim Koch.

Mike Sweeney, chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, announced the other day that he will step down as chairman of the regatta after next year’s regatta, which will be the 175th event. He will remain a steward, though. It was also announced that Sir Steve Redgrave was elected vice-chairman of next summer’s regatta. Elected new stewards of the regatta were Olympic champions Mark Hunter and Tom James. Fiona Dennis, who is an international umpire and among other regattas umpired at the 2012 London Paralympic Games, was also elected a steward.

Who is then going to be the new chairman of the regatta when Sweeney retires? In a tweet, Sir Matthew Pinsent, also a steward of Henley Royal Regatta, said that the answer will be found in the key words ‘Sir Steve Redgrave’ and ‘vice-chairman’. So now we all know! Read more in an article published in the local newspaper, the Henley Standard.

Leander Rowers Shake Their Stuff for a Good Cause

Photo: The Henley Standard

Here is a fun fund-raising event that happened in Henley-on-Thames the other day. The local newspaper the Henley Standard writes:

The Olympic gold-medal winning four of Pete Reed, Alex Gregory, Andy Triggs Hodge and Tom James performed to Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) during the BBC telethon on Friday night. They then joined fellow gold medallists Anna Watkins, Katherine Grainger, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in “rowing” on office chairs.

The routine helped boost the total raised on the night to a record £26,757,446. Many fund-raising events took place in the Henley area, especially in schools. Reed, a Leander Club athlete, said: “I am not a dancer at all. It’s actually a fear of mine but ‘Children in Need’ is a great charity so I just had to man up and give it my best shot. We had a lot of fun as a crew that day. It turns out that we are all trainable and it’s good not to take yourself too seriously.”

Watkins, a Leander sculler, said: “It was great fun to take part. We’re not natural dancers but they found something even we could do, although we’re not quite ready for Strictly yet! I think the boys enjoyed doing Single Ladies way too much.”

Read the whole article in the Henley Standard here. (Where you will also find a funny video!)