Henley Royal Regatta moved by Colonel Makins ‘that in the opinion of this meeting it is inexpedient that any alteration in the rules of the regatta be made at present’ was carried by 19 votes to 5. In 1906, Royal Club Nautique de Gand of Belgium became the first foreign crew to win the Grand Challenge Cup. A different Ghent Club, Sport Nautique de Gand took the Grand in 1907. In advance of 1908, with the Olympic Regatta to be held on the Henley course in mid-July, the Stewards announced a temporary rule change excluding overseas entries from the 1908 regatta (which would
Henley Royal Regatta of its history, Henley Royal Regatta has only been open to male competitors but this has changed more recently. Women coxswains of male crews were permitted from 1975 and as such the first female competitor in the regatta was Christine Paul, cox of Furnivall Sculling Club in the Thames Challenge Cup in that year. There was much discussion about the introduction of events for women. The Stewards felt that they faced a dilemma: on the one hand it was argued that women's rowing would never flourish while there were no women's events at Britain's premier regatta; on the other it