Among the record number of entrants for the 2016 regatta are Jack Beaumont and Nick Middleton, who will be racing in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup under the Leander Club banner.

They will be looking to continue the impressive form they have shown on the international stage this season, where they reached the final at the World Cups in Varese and Lucerne.

Beaumont, from Maidenhead, also won silver as a last-minute sub with the men’s quadruple scull in Lucerne and was victorious in the men’s single scull B final at the Poznan World Cup. He is bidding for a fifth successive Henley title this year.

“Being a local lad I have grown up around Henley Royal Regatta – I used to go and watch every year with my family,” he said.

“I love the traditions and the head-to-head racing. It’s also the only race where all of my friends and family can come and watch which makes it extra special.

“To win at Henley for a fifth successive year would be fantastic.”

Contesting the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup are Ollie Cook and Callum McBrierty, fresh from their World Cup victory in the men’s coxed pair with Henry Fieldman in Poznan. McBrierty also helped the GB men’s four claim a dramatic gold at the Lucerne World Cup after subbing in for the ill Constantine Louloudis.

The Queen Mother Challenge Cup for the men’s quadruple sculls features the Leander Club and Oxford Brookes University composite of Jamie Kirkwood, Jamie Copus, Charlie Waite-Roberts and Zak Lee-Green.

All four are experienced lightweight internationals, as are Imogen Walsh, Brianna Stubbs, Emily Craig and Ellie Piggott who will race as Wallingford RC and London RC in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup. Each crew member won a silver medal at last year’s World Championships in Aiguebelette – Walsh in the lightweight single and the others with Ruth Walczak in the lightweight quad.

Also contesting the Princess Grace are the open-weight GB quartet of Jess Leyden, Melissa Wilson, Holly Nixon and Mathilda Hodgkins-Bryne.

“Henley time is so exciting, there’s a real buzz around the town and I love it,” said Leyden, who was part of the winning Princess Grace crew in 2015.

“I can’t wait to race there in front of the crowds. The women’s quad event looks really strong this year and I’ll do all I can to try and defend the title.”

Tina Stiller – who rowed alongside Leyden and Nixon in the GB women’s quad that narrowly missed out on Olympic qualification this summer – will race in the women’s single scull event, the Princess Royal Challenge Cup.

Beth Bryan, Becca Chin, Caragh McMurtry, Donna Etiebet, Jo Wratton, Holly Norton, Fiona Gammond and Katherine Douglas make up the Leander and Tees RC composite women’s eight that will contest the Remenham Challenge Cup. All have GB experience, either at senior or U23 level, and will be coxed by Erin Wysocki-Jones.

Henley will also offer potential World U23 and World Junior rowers another chance to impress the GB selectors ahead of this year’s Championships in Amsterdam.

And there will be more GB Rowing Team interest in the historic regatta on Thursday when the ParalympicsGB rowing squad for Rio 2016 is announced at Henley.

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With Rio firmly on the horizon for the core group of Olympic squad rowers, the next wave will be looking to impress at the third GB Rowing Team assessment of the season.

This weekend’s event in Boston, Lincolnshire, could offer the opportunity to those seeking to gain an invitation to the Olympic trials next month as well as those looking to represent their country on the global stage at the World U23 Championships this summer.

For others in action on the River Witham the goal could be to secure a place at the senior World Championships in the International Classes.

The latter is taking place in a combined event at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from August 21-28, with the World U23s.

Among those looking to make their mark during Saturday’s 5k time-trial on the River Witham are a number of medallists at U23 and Junior level from 2015.

Chris Lawrie (Molesey BC) stroked the men’s quadruple scull to a historic gold medal at last year’s World Junior Championships in Rio. He will contest the men’s single in Boston, along with Dave Bell, Frazier Christie and George Stewart who all recorded top-ten finishes at the first 5k assessment in November.

In the men’s sweep section, Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon University BC) – a silver-medallist in the men’s four at the World U23s – teams up in the pair with James Rudkin (Newcastle University BC).

Phil Congdon, a 2014 European Championships bronze-medallist with the senior men’s eight, partners Leander Club colleague Timothy Clarke and former GB lightweight rower Chris Boddy is paired with Adam Neill.

Six medallists from the World U23s are among a 50-strong field in the women’s single. Beth Bryan (Tees RC) has won silver and bronze with the women’s eight in the past three years, while GB Rowing Team Start graduate Sam Courty (Reading RC) and Emily Ford (Newcastle University BC) were in the women’s four that won bronze in Plovdiv, Bulgaria last summer.

Nicole Lamb (Newcastle Univ), Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC) and Annie Withers (Oxford Brookes Uni) were all in the women’s eight that won U23 bronze last year.

Among those contesting the lightweight men’s single scull in Boston is Steven Parsonage (Durham University BC), a graduate of the GB Rowing Team Start Centre in Norwich. He won silver with the lightweight men’s quad at last year’s World U23s and went on to make his senior debut aged 19 at the World Championships in Aiguebelette the following month.

Three members of the lightweight men’s four that won World U23 bronze in 2015 – Ali Douglass (Molesey BC), Ed Fisher and Jonny Jackson (both Leander) – will also be in action.

Ones to watch in the lightweight women’s single include Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh University BC) and Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Manchester University). They were both part of the lightweight women’s quad that finished just outside the medals at the World U23s.

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