THE SPORT OF ROWING summer crop. It is tranquil here until two shells move nervously into place, and the umpire leans forward in the power launch and roars, ‘Are you ready?’ “Two little coxswains snarl at their beefy crews through megaphones or microphones or sometimes in deep grammar-school voices that can suddenly turn shrill. “‘Go!’ “The shells jerk forward. UPI Cablephoto Along the concrete path that runs along one side of the shore, the two coaches pedal furiously on skinny, black bicycles, fingering stop watches, yelling at their crews and dodging old men with walrus mustaches wearing scarlet beanies and women sitting on the grass in yellow organdy dresses. “On move the shells, past eight men in Coaches follow their crews on bicycles along the banks of the Thames during the regatta, calling out encouragement. Temple Island can be seen at right rear. “‘Hip, hip for London City School, croaked a coxswain, and weakly the crew answered, ‘Hurrah.’”288 wheelchairs who were just rolling down the ramp of a battered blue bus bearing the sign ‘Lest We Forget, Association for War Disabled.’ “Then past lounging couples listening to the Wimbledon matches on portable radios, past the enclosed pavilions of boating clubs, past a ferris wheel, past a fun house (‘America’s latest craze, the Rib Tickler’). “And past young men and women lounging easily in punts poled along the shallow river, past a shabby man promising doom (‘The world will be burnt up,’ he said) to a youngster from grammar school (‘You don’t mean flames, do you, sir?’), past Albert’s Electric Bingo and past strawberries and cream in the Stewards’ Enclosure, and finally over the finish line where sixteen young men fell on their oars. Amateurism Defined Very quickly the Henley Regatta became the epitome of upper class sport in Great Britain, but the town itself was hardly upper class. Professional watermen maintained boat maintenance and rental businesses in the shadow of Brakspear’s Brewery, and by the time that London’s Leander Club had opened its annex in Henley in 1897, there were already several rowing clubs there that catered to local tradesmen and factory workers during their time off from work. However, those who worked with their hands could organize their own events. The Henley Royal Regatta was not intended for them. Here is the definition of amateur as set out during the 1890s in the regatta rules: No person shall be considered an amateur oarsman, sculler, or coxswain: 288 Robert Lipsyte, Henley Starts to Separate Flotsam From the Fleet, The New York Times, July 1, 1965 82
