1989 Henley (HRR) Notts County vs Harvard rerow 

Toby Hessian here. Stroke man of the Notts County eight. Forgot how hard this race was. second time around 40 plus all the way. Thanks for posting this. Probably the best race i ever took part in, and we won a few. Tribute to 6 man Carl Smith, a legend and coming up to 3 years since his passing. he was the greatest. I would love to get the video of both races from the launch. I wonder if Harvard would let us see it??? Any one help if you can. Cheers T, Hessian.

Thanks for sharing this film. I’ve watched it many times over the years. True grit, great to watch, amazing bit of sporting history.

Thank you so much for posting this, finally some evidence of one of the most legendary races in rowing!

Thanks for posting this, NCRA were massive at this time - I'd have loved to have seen this live

Man that is soo sweet

i never thought this video existed!

Thanks for posting - I only began coxing in 94, so I missed this but I've heard so many people talk about it and read several good accounts. Nice to see some footage! I seem to remember reading on rec.sport.rowing years ago that one of the Harvard supporters videoed the first race and/or the re-row from the launch but that this video has never surfaced. Can't quite make out Haining taking his hand off the blade to punch the air for five strokes, as he allegedly did!

This was a truly epic race. Great atmosphere, exciting, close and controversial (hence the re-row). I remember it well.

I just began rowing three years ago at the age of 48. I had no idea that my classmate from Grammar school was such an accomplished rower sitting at 6, Tom Kay. That was before a few world championship golds. He always seemed pretty focused and serious at school. Oh well some motivation to see what I can do in a double early tomorrow.

Martin - I have heard this story several times and amazed there is a video. It is a great rowing story. Well done NC. www.rowingservice.com/CarlSmithRIP.pdf Then there was then that extraordinary day, twenty years ago, which is lodged in the memory of everyone who was at Henley. Notts County, with Carl at six, won the Ladies Plate beating Harvard in the prime slot on Sunday afternoon. Harvard appealed, claiming that a piece of wood had stuck in the rudder, somewhere on the course. NCRA, triumphant, had landed, put the boat away and was well into the champagne when the Stewards, never that friendly to any crews from north of Watford, cancelled their victory and scheduled a repeat final after the normal prize giving. Several of the crew made speeches with more expletives than there are strokes in a Henley mile and there was a general mutiny against the Royal Regatta and all its machinations. One voice said “Right we’ll just go and do it again” and such was the respect that he attracted that, when Carl had spoken, the crew burped away the booze, massaged their quadriceps and worked out a new race plan. I don’t suppose the re-row is written into the Harvard official history. Level with NCRA until the Mile with a weight advantage of two stone a man, they were subjected to a burn that must have seared their souls for life and the NCRA burst clear and appeared to be cruising as they won by 2/3 length. That the normal gentlemanly commiserations and three cheers of Henley tradition were replaced with a certain amount of critical wisdom about the status as human beings of Harvard and more particularly the Stewards, was also pure Carl. But it was his attitude and leadership by example, which had galvanised an admittedly brilliantly talented crew into such ferocious revenge for spoiling their one serious drink of the summer

Hi Toby, havent seen you for ages. Glad you liked the video. Mostyn

Don't know if it's Haining, but the NCRA 2 man punches the air at about 21 seconds.

Good spot - and yes that is Haining. Just dug out my copy of Richard Burnell's "A Year To Remember: A celebration of the 150th Henley Royal Regatta", which includes the crews for this race. NCRA: C Bates (bow), PM Haining, TD Kay, JM Hooker, M Chmiel, CB Smith, NA Staite, TRT Hessian (str), J Deakin (cox). Harvard: CM Pieckenhagen (bow), J Harvey, H Evans, J Bernstein, P Sharis, J Rusher, P Schuller, J Amory (str), T Metz (cox).