THREE Wye rowers fought epic battles on the Thames but suffered Henley Royal Regatta heartbreak as their medal bids fell just short.

Old Monmothian Iwan Hadfield stroked his US college champion California Berkeley 8 all the way to the final of the Ladies Plate only to lose by a length to world rowing’s most prestigious and oldest rowing club, Leander.

And Monmouth’s Stephen Griffiths and Louis Paterson helped their Wyfold Cup club fours to opposite semi-finals, only to bow out by even less in brilliant races.

GB World U23 medallist Hadfield’s Golden Bears eased to a 3 1/2L win over the Thames RC/Army crew to make the last four at the world’s most famous rowing regatta, which dates back to 1839.

And then on the 2,112m upstream racecourse, marked by floating timber booms, they had to did deep to see off fellow Americans Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon, with just 1/3L separating them at the finish.

With Hadfield setting the rhythm, Cal had a canvas at the 1/4-Mile, 1/2L at the Barrier and 2/3L at the half-way Fawley mark.

But their US rivals refused to fade away and threw the kitchen sink at the Bears along the enclosures as the rain poured down, with Cal hanging on to win in 6mins 08secs.

That secured a Sunday final clash with Henley-based Leander, a club which boasts more than 120 Olympic medal winners in its 204-year history, including five golds for Sir Steve Redgrave, current chairman of the Royal Regatta.

The ‘Pink Palace’ were first to show, leading by a couple of seats at the 1/4-Mile and 1/2L at the Barrier.

And try as Hadfield’s boat might, they couldn’t stop the home crew from slowly stretching their lead to 3/4L at Fawley and 1L at the Mile.

The Wye rower lifted his crew to 38 strokes a minute along the enclosures, but couldn’t make further inroads as Leander held on to win in 6mins 4secs.

Paterson, who was part of the Monmouth RC quadruple scull that won the British men’s title in 2010, teamed up with fellow Oxford Brookes students to race a Taurus Boat Club alumni four at the six-day regatta.

The former Monmouth Comprehensive pupil stroked the boat to comfortable wins over City of Oxford and Agecroft, and then put out fellow seeds Molesey by 1 1/4L.

That set up a semi-final on Friday with defending Tideway champions Thames RC.Racing into a gusting headwind, the London club squeezed out to 1/3L lead at the Barrier and had stretched this to 1 1/4L at the Mile Post.

Hitting the enclosures and roared on by the 12,000-strong crowd Paterson lifted his crew for one last effort, and they attacked hard over the last 60 strokes.

But despite gaining an overlap, Thames stood firm to win by 3/4L in 7.11.

In the other side of the draw, former Henley Thames Cup 8s winner Griffiths and his Upper Thames four beat London by 1 3/4L, Marlow by 2 1/2l and then rowed down Irish seeds Shandon in the quarter-final to win by 1 2/3L.

That saw them line up against Norwegian seeds Oslo for a place in the final, where his crew trailed by 1L at the 3/4-Mile but had regained an overlap by the enclosures.

And attacking at 39 strokes a minute in the final 200 yards, they closed with every stroke, just running out of water with only a canvas separating them on the line.

Earlier in the regatta, there was disappointment for Old Monmothian Robbie Prosser-Wrench and his seeded Bristol University Prince Albert Cup college four, who led to beyond half-way in their opening heat before losing out by 1/2L to Oxford Brookes.

Monmouth School for Girls alumni Darcy Birkett steered her London University Island Cup women’s college 8 to a 1/2L win over Tideway rivals Imperial before bowing out to selected Dutch outfit Nereus by 1 1/3L in the last 16.

And former Monmouth Comprehensive pupil Sam Royston coxed his Wargrave Cup women’s club 8 to a 1 1/2L win over Riverside BC USA before losing in the quarter-final by 2 3/4L to Leander.

Monmouth School’s newly formed young 8 came within a fraction of qualifying for the Princess Elizabeth Cup school 8s event, heading the list of non-qualifiers in the previous week’s time-trial race, beating the likes of Sir William Borlase, Emanuel School and Bedford Modern, and will be back next year stronger and faster.

Monmouth Comprehensive’s boys’ quad scull came 24th out of 40 in their qualifying race, while Monmouth School for Girls’ Prince Philip Cup 8, including a 14-year-old, were eighth fastest non-qualifiers and will be targeting a place in 2023.

You can watch all the races on Henley Royal Regatta’s YouTube channel.