Schoolboy cox steers Henley crew

A boy of nine has steered a crew to victory at Henley Royal Regatta. Henry Lawrence is thought to be the youngest cox to have entered the competition.

He took up the sport last summer keen to emulate his hero, Sir Steve Redgrave. As Henry weighs only six stone, the crew had to place a 17kg bag of sand on their racing shell in order for him to reach the cox's minimum weight requirement of 55kg.

Henry was so worried that he would not weigh enough he ate extra meals in the run-up to the event. At the other extreme, his crewmate Craig Burrows, 27, weighed in at more than 19 stone.

Yet Henry expertly steered the amateur rowing club's boat to victory when they beat Bradford-upon-Avon to win the first heat of the Thames Challenge Cup. Speaking after his team's victory, the pupil at Sussex House Preparatory School in Sloane Square, described how he came to find himself part of the Hackney-based Lea Rowing Club, established in 1980.

"I was walking along the river one day last year when I saw them rowing. I said to my mum that it looked really exciting and we agreed to approach them. I had never rowed before, but really enjoyed watching Steve Redgrave and his crew win a gold medal at the Olympics."

Coach Richard Metcalf said: "What we really needed was a cox. When Henry said he'd love to have a go we were really happy."