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 was clear that open women’s events would be dominated by foreign competitors, while events closed to foreign competitors would not serve the desired purpose. Another difficulty was the length of the course. The standard distance for international women's races was at that time 1000 m. It was clear that races over the full Henley course (2112 m) would not be appealing to women's crews preparing for international championships. Peter Coni, who was elected as Chairman of the regatta’s Committee of Management in 1978, was supportive of the idea of introducing women's events. However, he had had little time to take