The Prince Albert Challenge Cup is an event at Henley Royal Regatta. It is contested by Men's Student Crews in Coxed fours. It has been held since 2004.
Creation in 2004
The Britannia Challenge Cup was originally presented in 1969 as an event for four-oars with coxswain (Coxed Fours) open to club and student crews, and was contested for its first 35 years by an entry of 32 crews, racing over 5 days - with many times its entry number entering qualification and pre-qualifying races.
The Britannia Challenge Cup was split between club and student crews in 2004, having created additional competition time by removing the Prince Philip Challenge Cup, which had been contested by a small entry (usually between 2–4) of international elite oarsmen but was removed from the racing programme in line with the continued removal of coxed fours racing from international regattas meaning that it had lost value.
The Britannia Challenge Cup remained as the club coxed fours' competition, while the Prince Albert Challenge Cup for men's student coxed fours created in a similar mould, but with entry restricted to: Universities Colleges Schools
No composite crews are allowed to enter. The entry for each competition was set at 16 for both cups. There are now coxed fours events for both clubs and universities at the regatta, and both events have been heavily contested since the change meaning qualifying races have been held for the events. The Prince Albert has attracted international competitors from the US, the Netherlands and Ireland.
The Prince Albert Trophy
Given the success of the fledgling Students Coxed Fours event the stewards agreed to accept and to fund a permanent trophy to be awarded to the winners of the event, two years after its start. The trophy was designed and created by Hector Miller and was presented by Imperial College London - the 2004 winners. It is named after Prince Albert who became the first Royal Patron of the Regatta in 1851 and was also closely associated with the origins of Imperial College. The Cup was accepted by the Regatta in the presence of H.M. The Queen at Buckingham Palace in June 2006. As with other competitions at the Royal Regatta the names of the winning crew are inscribed on the trophy.
Past winners YearWinnerWinning crewRunner-upRef 2004 Imperial College Boat Club Isis Boat Club 2005 Durham University Boat Club National University of Ireland, Galway 2006 Imperial College Boat Club University of London Boat Club 2007 University of London Boat Club Goldie Boat Club 2008 Newcastle University Boat Club University of the West of England Boat Club 2009 Oxford Brookes University Boat ClubYale University 2010 University College Dublin University of Bristol 2011 Harvard University Oxford Brookes University Boat Club 2012 University of London Boat Club Newcastle University Boat Club 2013 Imperial College Boat Club Isis Boat Club 2014 Newcastle University Boat Club Harvard University 2015 University of Washington Yale University 2016 Edinburgh University Boat ClubNewcastle University Boat Club 2017 Newcastle University Boat Club Imperial College Boat Club 2018 Imperial College Boat Club Goldie Boat Club 2019 Harvard University Durham University Boat Club 2020No competition due to COVID-19 pandemic2021University of London Boat ClubNewcastle University Boat Club2022Oxford Brookes University Boat Club University of California BC, Berkeley, USA2023Oxford Brookes University Boat Club University of Washington BC, USA2024Oxford Brookes 'A'Oxford Brookes 'B'2025University of London Boat Club Edinburgh University
Records Crew Barrier Fawley Finish YearImperial College London 1:55 3:15 6:46 2018
References