The Thames is one of the main rowing rivers in Europe. Several annual competitions are held along its course, including the Henley Royal Regatta, The Boat Race and other long-distance events, called Head of the River races (Heads).

As well as the events held on the river itself, there are other, purpose-built rowing facilities along the course of the river, such as Dorney Lake between Slough and Windsor, Berkshire, which was a 2012 Summer Olympic venue and is now an international Cup, standard-distance rowing lake hosting the three main annual entry regattas for Henley: still named Marlow (International), Wallingford and Metropolitan. Other rowing lakes near the Thames are the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake between Reading and Henley used by the Great Britain squad and Royal Albert Dock near North Woolwich, London.

History

Rowing races on the River Thames have been documented as early as 1725, and Henley-on-Thames was the venue for the 1908 London Olympics rowing races.[1]

Contemporary events, groups and modern history

The sport and recreational/touring rowing takes place on the Tideway and on the 45 separate lock reaches on the non-tidal section.

The river hosts a televised succession of races on which bets are placed – traditionally named The Boat Race and for some decades a men-only event – it is now the (Oxford and Cambridge) Men's and Women's Boat Race on the cusp of March and April. Further up-river, the Henley Royal Regatta, held over six days (Tuesday to Sunday) ending on the first weekend in July is one of several other rowing events held along approximately the same course on that same stretch of the Thames.

At least 12 head races are held every year on the long, tidal course of the Boat Race, known as the Championship Course – including the Head of the River Race which is the weekend before the Boat Race, attracting hundreds of racing shell eights. Head races are, by definition, long time trials. Twice as many heads are held on long, narrower reaches of the canalised inland river. Many clubs and a few schools and village fair committees as far inland as Oxford host shorter races – regattas – in warmer months.

Event-raced, self-propelled boats on the Thames chiefly comprise (Olympic) racing shells. Most events are for racing shells.

Traditional rowing boats

A Thames, or English, punt is a long slender vessel. It sees very few and often intermittent or extremely local races. Its use is almost wholly recreational. Thames skiffs are the mainstay of several regattas and six extant clubs (see below). A large version with a canvas is called a camping skiff, featuring in major modern travelogues and historically in Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889,[2] a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a two-week boating holiday on this river from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back to Kingston.[3][4] Other rowing typically takes place in dragon boats, dongolas, dinghies, inflatable rafts and larger skiffs known as cutters.

Rowing in winter on The Isis also known as Thames
Regatta at Molesey (1874) Alfred Sisley

Regattas

Thames rowing regattas are almost all between April and the first week of September. All but the most prestigious are considered short. They are raced side-by-side. They are in categories for competitors and boat types: each consists of heats (mostly knock-out tournaments, that is, without repechages) and final. Many regatta days are split into two or more divisions so that competitors can enter two categories – such as a large and small boat, sweep-oar or sculling. Where category events have a cup it belongs to the regatta and is sometimes engraved with winners' club or composite clubs' name (or engraved on metal set around a plinth or set of plinths). Winners receive a medal – or tankard, called by rowers a "pot". A regatta in racing shell rowing has umpires/stewards who enforce preparedness (race registration, safety and marshalling time/location rules), false start and lane rules using a motor launch and the wearing of club kit.

Event Special Month Place or Reach above... Approx. start point Direction Distance
Chertsey Regatta Skiffing 07 Shepperton Lock Dumsey Meadow Down 500 m
Egham Regatta 06 Bell Weir Lock Bell Weir Up 650 m
Hampton Court and Dittons Regatta Skiffing 07 Teddington Lock River Mole Down 650 m
Henley Royal Regatta 07 Hambleden Lock Temple Island Up 2112 m
Henley Women's Regatta Ladies 06 Hambleden Lock Temple Island Up 1500 m
Kingston Regatta 07 Teddington Lock Raven's Ait Down 1000 m
Maidenhead Regatta 08 Bray Lock Maidenhead Railway Bridge Up 500 m
Marlow Regatta 06 Dorney Lake Still 2000 m
Marlow Town Regatta 06 Marlow Lock Bisham Abbey Down 900 m
Metropolitan Regatta 05/06 Dorney Lake Still 2000 m
Reading Amateur Regatta 06 Caversham Lock St Mary's Island Down 1500 m
Reading Town Regatta Thames Valley Park bank 06 Sonning Lock Up 800 m
Skiff Championships Regatta Skiffing 08 Hambleden Lock Henley on Thames Down 750 m
Sonning Regatta General (no racing shells) 05, biennial Sonning Lock Sonning Eye bank above lock Either 300 m approx
Staines Regatta 07 Penton Hook Lock South of Saint Peter's Church Down 500 m
Sunbury Amateur Regatta General (rarely has racing shell J1x) 08 Molesey Lock Sunbury Court Island Up 650 m
Thames Ditton Regatta 05 Teddington Lock By Thames Ditton Island Up 920 m
Thames Valley Park Regatta 06 Sonning Lock Up 500 m
Wallingford Regatta 05 Dorney Lake Still 2000 m
Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta General (no racing shells) 08 Marsh Lock Shiplake Railway Bridge Down 400 m

"General" refers to a mix of skiffing, cutters, dinghies and other rowed craft.

Head of the River and long-distance events

Head of the River races (Heads) and other long-distance events dominate the winter months, and are usually processional (time trials): competitors set off at time intervals, and results are on the basis of comparative timing or by bumping (catching up the boat in front). Many of them on the Tideway are raced over The Championship Course, and apart from the Boat Race and Wingfield Sculls, may begin from Mortlake (west) or Putney (east) whichever tide matches the middle of the day or other central racing hours.

Event Special Month Area or Lock Reach Approx. start point Direction Distance
Eights Week University of Oxford 05 Iffley Lock Up
Hammersmith Head 03 Tideway Chiswick Bridge Down 4425 m
Head of the River Fours (the Fours Head) 11 Tideway Championship Course Either 6800 m
Head of the River Race (the) 03 Tideway Championship Course Either 6800 m
Reading University Head of the River 02/03 Caversham Lock The Roebuck Hotel, Tilehurst Down 4500 m
Schools' Head of the River Race Junior 03 Tideway Championship Course Either 6800 m
Torpids University of Oxford 03 Iffley Lock Up
Vesta Veterans International VIIIs Head of River Masters 03 Tideway Championship Course Either 6800 m
(Vesta/the) Scullers Head of River 09 Tideway Championship Course Either 6800 m
Wingfield Sculls 10 Tideway Putney With the flood tide 6800 m
Women's Head Ladies 03 Tideway Championship Course Either 6500 m

Other events

Clubs

Rowing on the river is generally organised through clubs based on the Thames, which include the following.

Competing many times per year

Superscript key:

  • G: in Greenwich
  • H: in Hammersmith
  • M: in Mortlake
  • Ch: in Chiswick (Note: Cygnet & BBL share premises)

Universities

Schools

References

  1. ↑ Hammer, Joshua (July 2012). "300 Years of Rowing on the Thames". Smithsonian.
  2. ↑ Jerome, Jerome K. (1889). Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). Bristol & London: J.W. Arrowsmith & Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Retrieved 10 April 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Stewart, James. "30 great boating adventures". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Blazing paddles: the high art of packrafting – in north Wales". the Guardian. 8 July 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2022.

Bibliography

As to currently competing clubs:
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