Thames Tradesmen Celebrates Henley Win Fifty Years On

Club looks back at its triumph in the Wyfold Challenge Cup

Left to right: stroke Steve Simpole, Bob Milligan, coach Bill Mason, John Roberts and bow Tony Mallin 1975

July 6, 2025

Chiswick-based Thames Tradesmen’s Rowing Club (TTRC) were strongly represented at Henley Royal Regatta this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of winning the Wyfold Challenge Cup.

This is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual regatta which has been contested since 1855.

As part of the celebrations, the winning 1975 crew consisting of Steve Simpole, Bob Milligan, John Roberts and Tony Mallin got back together on the water for a row past in the lunch break to loud cheers from family members and current TTRC-members on Friday 4 July.

Their coach Bill Mason - himself a former GB Olympian rower - was also there to support the boys just like back in 1975, when he came up with the winning tactics of the final against Leander Rowing Club, “Just go out there and race them.”

They did. But it was a hard race, as John Roberts remembers, “Both crews came off the start well with nothing splitting the crews as we passed The Barrier,” he recalls.

But by the finish line the TTRC crew crossed first by 1 1/3 lengths in a record time of 6 min 57 sec.

“We were absolutely over the moon. We’d just won The Wyfold’s Cup beating the course record. This made all those painful training sessions worthwhile,” Roberts adds.

50 years on Bob Milligan - still a successful competitive rower at age 73 - clearly remembers the rivalry with Leander which gave the underdogs from TTRC an extra boost of energy when it counted.

“The rivalry was so intense you could cut it with a knife,” he says.

Left to right: stroke Steve Simpole, Bob Milligan, coach Bill Mason, John Roberts and bow Tony Mallin 1975

Both rowers credit their 1975 win as the most important in their rowing careers which opened the door to future successes for Great Britain. And getting the crew together again for the row past was great, they say - although the four of them have stayed friends ever since and are still in regular contact with each other.

“Of course, today it was never going to be the same,” Milligan says referring to age and lack of regular training together having weakened the technique a bit.

“But it’s bigger than that. It was our first huge win. It really turned a corner for us,” he adds.

All four rowers went on to have great rowing careers, competing for Great Britain in World Championships and Olympic Games. In 2020 Tony Mallin was awarded an MBE for services to young people through sports. And Bob Milligan just keeps rowing and winning. Just a few weeks ago he won the single competition for his age category at the British Rowing National Championships and next weekend he will be competing in the Henley Masters Regatta.

Here he will be joined by several current TTRC crews, some of them present at the small celebratory picnic lunch at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend, where they were able to hear first-hand the crew tell their inspirational tale from 1975.

TTRC current Chairman Nigel Brophy was thrilled that it was possible to unite current members with the four club legends and past members of TTRC.

“It was a day to remember. To watch these Olympians row in their early seventies at the famous stretch of the river Thames at Henley, is a huge inspiration to us all. The club is now very much a recreational rowing club, offering the local community an opportunity to learn to row on the tideway,” he says.

Thames Tradesmen’s Rowing Club, located in Grove Park at University of London Boathouse, 83 Hartington Road, (W4 3TU) is planning a six week Learn To Row course staring at the end of August. If interested visit the club’s web site.