Organizationally, the Henley Royal Regatta was quite different from rowing in the United States where Heavyweight and Lightweight are the principal categories for Eights. At Henley, there are several events for Eights, only two of which I will mention here. These are the Grand Challenge Cup and our event, the Thames Challenge Cup.

The criteria for entering each of these events are kept rather vague, but weight is definitely not one of them.  Generally, world-class, Olympic caliber heavyweight crews enter the Grand Challenge Cup. 1962 was a typical year in that the leading university heavyweight crews from the USA, Yale and Pennsylvania, and two national teams representing Russia and Italy entered the Grand Challenge Cup. Altogether, only nine crews entered the Grand in 1962, a fairly typical year.

The next tier of Eights, traditionally, has entered the Thames Challenge Cup.  As compared to the Grand, the Thames Cup usually has a full slate of thirty-two entries.  These include a variety of heavyweight university crews—those considered not to be up to the standard of the Grand—a number of rowing club crews, the very best heavyweight high school crews from the USA, and the leading university lightweight crews from the United States.

From 1954 (MIT) to 1960 (Harvard), the leading lightweight Eight from the United States dominated the event, winning the Thames Cup seven consecutive years. However, in 1961, an outstanding heavyweight crew from the University of London entered the Thames Cup, defeating the Harvard Lightweights in Harvard's attempt to chalk up a fourth consecutive victory. Why London entered the Thames rather than the Grand was a matter of some controversy. Perhaps the explanation was as simple as the fact that the best British crews had, in recent years, been completely dominated by national teams—such as the Russians—in the Grand, and they wanted to enter an event that they had a chance to win. Regardless, the character of the Thames Cup was changed from that point forward. More on that later, with respect to 1962.

Another interesting aspect of rowing at Henley is that there is no attempt to seed the crews. (It will be interesting to see if this has changed in 2007.) A few days before the Regatta, the Lord Mayor of Henley draws the names of the thirty-two Thames Cup entries out of—you guessed it—the Thames Challenge Cup, and the crews row in that order. The drawing takes place in the Town Hall, pictured here at the end of the Henley High Street, the end opposite the bridge and parish church:

Because of the lack of seeding, it is not at all unusual for the two best crews to be in the same half of the draw. In fact, it is entirely possible that the two best can meet on the first day of the Regatta. Here is a scan of the Thames Cup draw in 1962, after the first day of competition. (I should add that there were ten events altogether at Henley in 1962, each with its own draw. This memoir focuses on just our event, the Thames Challenge Cup.)

With its 32 entries, the Thames Challenge Cup is the largest event of the Regatta. Since the course is just two lanes wide, there are 16 Thames Cup races on the first day alone, plus 40 other races for the Grand, Diamond Sculls, Silver Goblets, etc. etc. On opening day, this requires that a new race be started every five minutes (!) so there are always two races on the course at any point in time. The organizational skills on the part of the stewards and referees are phenomenal. They make it look easy, as the entire event operates beautifully, always on time and without a hitch.

With the draw behind us, we continued with our twice-a-day training schedule while at the same time participating in a number of Henley events. On the Sunday before the Regatta, we attended the Anglican service at the Henley parish church, which traditionally is attended by dozens of oarsmen decked out in their school blazers. Here, in front of the church, is our contingent. Those most clearly identifiable in the picture are, left to right, George Zimmerman (back to camera), Herb Herrmann, Dennis Buss, Mark Barron and Chas Bruggemann (back to camera)....

....and in this one, Lila Spence, Gary Zwart (back to camera), my brother Tom Vernon, Ken Spence, Roger Rowe (back to camera) and Chas Bruggemann.

After the service, Ken Spence took us on a tour of his alma mater, Oxford University, with a stop along the way for lunch in a British pub and restaurant. Gary came along this time, to make absolutely sure on this day of rest we didn't try to organize a race up the stairs of the Oxford bell tower. ☺  

While we were stopped for lunch, Dennis decided to try out his skills as a sculler, with Mark taking a promotion to be coxswain. This proved to be well beyond their skills—especially for Mark.  ☺