Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the three other regattas rowed over approximately the same course, Henley Women's Regatta, Henley Masters Regatta and Henley Town and Visitors' Regatta, each of which is an entirely separate event. The regatta lasts for five days (Wednesday to Sunday) ending on the first weekend in July. Races are head-to-head knock out competitions, raced over a course of 1 mile,
Henley Royal Regatta the first foreign winners of a Henley trophy. Unfortunately, there were accusations that both G.W. Lee and the Shoe-wae-cae-mette crew were not amateurs. This led in 1879 to a new, tighter, definition of amateurism (see above) and a requirement that any entries from outside the United Kingdom must be made on or before 1 March and must be ‘accompanied by a declaration made before Notary Public with regard to the profession of each member of the crew’, and this must be certified by the British Consul, the mayor, or the chief authority of the locality. Under these new rules, Shoe-wae-cae-mette