The 2011 Henley Royal Regatta commences tonight (June 29) at Henley-on-Thames in England as the Australian Rowing Team makes its first appearance on its ten week tour of Europe.

Following the release of the draw earlier this week, none of Australia’s 16 crews will race this evening, with seven crews starting their campaign on Thursday.

Australia is using the regatta as a warm up event ahead of World Cup 3 at Lucerne, Switzerland (July 8-10) and will look for some much needed race practice at the historic British event which concludes on Sunday 3 July.

Rowing Australia National High Performance Director Andrew Matheson said the team has arrived safely in England and was looking forward to their first races.

“The atmosphere around Henley is different to the majority of regattas we attend and everyone is excited to participate,” Matheson said. “There are a lot of high quality crews in action and no race will be easy to win.

“The strength of the competition is emphasised by the number of Olympic and world champions in the field and due to the uniqueness of the regatta we face some of these crews in the opening round. It will give us some hard racing ahead of Lucerne which is the perfect preparation.”

The Henley Royal Regatta, which was founded in 1839, is staged as a crew vs crew knock-out event which features school, club and elite level racing across 19 different events on a 2,112m course.

AUSTRALIAN ROWING TEAM DRAW
 
Thursday June 30 2011
**All Australian crews that win will progress to Friday racing**
 
The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup (Men’s Coxless Pair)

Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC) and Tom Larkins (VIC) vs West and West
Rod Chisholm (NSW) and Ali Foot (TAS) vs Johnson and Johnson
Tom Gibson (TAS) and Blair Tunevitsch (TAS) vs Bates and French
Brodie Buckland (NSW) and Will Lockwood (VIC) vs Wallace and Purdie
 
The Double Sculls Challenge Cup (Men’s Double Scull)

Scott Brennan (TAS) and David Crawshay (VIC) vs BYE
Jared Bidwell (QLD) and James Chapman (NSW) vs Caudrelier & van de Giessen

The Diamond Challenge Sculls (Men’s Single Scull)

Nicholas Hudson (NSW) vs. C.G. Anness
Jared Bidwell (QLD) vs M. Steenman
James Chapman (NSW) vs H.D.P Pelly
 
Friday July 1 2011
**All Australian crews that win will progress to Saturday racing**

The Stewards’ Challenge Cup (Men’s Four)

Australian Institute of Sport A (Joshua Dunkley Smith (VIC), Nicholas Purnell (NSW), Sam Loch (NSW), Drew Ginn (VIC)) vs Club Suisse

Australian Institute of Sport B (Todd Skipworth (WA), Ben Cureton (WA), Sam Beltz (TAS), Anthony Edwards (TAS)) vs Leander Club & Molesey B.C.

The Queen Mother Challenge Cup (Men’s Quad Scull)

Australian Institute of Sport (Daniel Noonan (NSW), Karsten Forsterling (VIC), James McRae (SA), Chris Morgan (SA)) vs AZS Szczecin & Gorzow

The Princess Grace Challenge Cup (Women’s Quad Scull)

Australian Institute of Sport A (Amy Clay (NSW), Sarah Cook (ACT), Brooke Pratley (NSW), Sally Kehoe (QLD)) vs Mortlake Anglian and Alpha B.C.

Australian Institute of Sport B (Alice McNamara (VIC), Kim Crow (VIC), Kerry Hore (TAS), Hannah Every-Hall (QLD)) vs A.S.R. Nereus & A.A.S.R. Skøll

The Princess Royal Challenge Cup (Women’s Single Scull)

Maddie Edmunds (QLD) vs A. Tsiavou
 
Saturday July 2 2011
**All Australian crews that win will progress to the finals on Sunday**

The Grand Challenge Cup (Men’s Eight)

Australian Institute of Sport 1 (Fergus Pragnell (NSW), Tom Swann (VIC), Bryn Coudraye (SA), Matt Ryan (NSW), James Marburg (VIC), Joshua Booth (VIC), Francis Hegerty (NSW), John Linke (VIC), Toby Lister (NSW)) vs Molesey B.C. and Leander Club (Great Britain)