Rowing on the River Thames

The River Thames is one of the main rowing areas in England, with activity taking place on the Tideway and on the 45 separate lock reaches on the non tidal section. The river hosts two major rowing events The Boat Race and Henley Royal Regatta, and a large number of other regattas and long distance events take place on the river. Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire was opened specifically as a rowing lake besides the Thames and has become the venue for a few events that formerly took place on the river. Other lakes adjacent to the Thames are the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake and Royal Albert Dock. Rowing, or sculling, includes skiffing, dinghy racing and cutter racing in which the boats are also propelled by blades.

1 Regattas
2 Head of River and Long Distance Events
3 Other events
4 Clubs
5 Poetry of Rowing
6 References
7 External links

Regattas

Rowing Regattas generally take place during the summer months and usually consist of short side-by-side sprint events, with heats and finals.

Event	Special	Month	Area or Lock Reach	Approx Start Point	Direction	Distance
Barnes and Mortlake Regatta		June	Tideway			1000M
Borne at Chiswick Bridge		May	Tideway			1000M
Burway Junior Regatta	Junior	July	Chertsey Lock		Down	600M
Chertsey Regatta	Skiffing	July	Shepperton Lock	Dumsey Meadow	Down	500M
Chiswick Regatta		April or May	Tideway			1000M
Egham Regatta		June	Bell Weir Lock	Bell Weir	Up	650M
Goring and Streatley Regatta		July	Cleeve Lock		Down	500M
Hammersmith Regatta		April	Tideway (Crab Tree/Chiswick Reach)	Fulham football ground (flood tide)/ Lep wharf (ebb tide)		1400M
Hampton Court and Dittons Regatta	Skiffing	July	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Down	650M
Henley Royal Regatta		July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	2112M
Henley Town and Visitors Regatta		July or August	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1000M
Henley Veterans Regatta	Veterans	July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1000M
Henley Women's Regatta	Ladies	June	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1500M
Kingston Regatta		July	Teddington Lock	Raven's Ait	Down	1000M
Maidenhead Regatta		August	Bray Lock	M'dnhead Rly Br	Up	500M
Maidenhead Junior Regatta	Junior	May	Bray Lock	M'dnhead Rly Br	Up	500M
Marlow Regatta		June	Dorney Lake		Still	2000M
Marlow Spring Regatta		May	Marlow Lock		Down	950
Marlow Town Regatta		June	Marlow Lock		Down	900
Metropolitan Regatta		May/ June	Dorney Lake		Still	2000M
Molesey Regatta		July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot	Down	850M
Molesey Junior Regatta	Junior	July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot	Down	500M
Oxford City Royal Regatta		August	Iffley Lock		Down	1000M
Oxford City Sprint Regatta		August	Iffley Lock		Down	500M
Putney Town Regatta		May	Tideway Fulham Reach			1200M
Reading Amateur Regatta		June	Caversham Lock	St Mary's Island	Down	1500M
Reading Town Regatta		June	Sonning Lock		Up	800M
Richmond Regatta		June	Tideway (Horse Reach)	Downstream end of Eel Pie Island	Down	1250M
Skiff Championships Regatta	Skiffing	August	Hambleden Lock	Henley on Thames	Down	750M
Sonning Regatta	General	May	Sonning Lock
Staines Regatta		July	Penton Hook Lock		Down	500M
Sunbury Amateur Regatta	General	August	Molesey Lock	Sunbury Court Island	Up	650M
Thames Ditton Regatta		May	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Up	1050M
Thames Valley Park Regatta		June	Sonning Lock		Up	500M
Twickenham Regatta		May	Tideway (Horse Reach)	Downstream end of Eel Pie Island		1250M
Wallingford Regatta		May	Dorney Lake		Still	2000M
Walton and Weybridge Regatta		June	Sunbury Lock	Walton Bridge	Down	1000M
Walton Reach Regatta	Skiffing	August	Sunbury Lock	Walton on Thames	Down	600M
Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta	General	August	Marsh Lock	Shiplake Railway Bridge	Down	400M
Weybridge Ladies Regatta	Ladies	June	Sunbury Lock		Up	900M
Wraysbury and Old Windsor Regatta	Skiffing	July	Bell Weir Lock	Hythe End	Down	500M

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

Head of River and Long Distance Events

Rowing Head of the River and Long Distance events generally take place in the winter months and are usually processional races with competitors being set off at time intervals and judged on the basis of comparative timing or by bumping (catching up the boat in front). Many of the long distance events on the Tideway are raced over The Championship Course and apart from the Boat Race and Wingfield Sculls may begin from Mortlake or Putney depending on river conditions.

Event	Special	Month	Area or Lock Reach	Approx Start Point	Direction	Distance
Abingdon Head		April	Culham Lock		Up	2000M
Burway Head		February	Chertsey Lock	M3 Bridge	Up	3000M
Burway Small Boats Head		December	Chertsey Lock	M3 Bridge	Up	3000M
Eights Week	O.U.	May	Iffley Lock		Up
Greenwich Head		February	Tideway	Wapping Pier	Up	3 miles
Hammersmith Head		March	Tideway
Hammersmith Women's Head	Ladies		Tideway
Hampton Fours and Eights Head	Junior	January	Molesey Lock		Down	3000M
Head of the River Fours		November	Tideway	Champs Course	Either	6800M
Head of the River Race		March	Tideway	Champs Course	Either	6800M
Henley Fours and Eights Head		February	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000M
Henley Junior Head	Junior	February	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000M
Henley Sculls Head		November	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000M
Isis Sculls		September	Iffley Lock		Up	1800M
Kingston Head		March	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Down	5200M
Kingston Small Boats Head		November	Teddington Lock	Dittons Skiff and Punting Club	Down	5000M
Marlow LD Sculls		November	Cookham Lock	Cookham Bridge	Up	2400/4800M
Molesey Veteran Head	Veteran	February	Molesey Lock		Down	3000M
Oxford City Bumping Races		April	Iffley Lock
Pangbourne Junior Sculls	Junior	November	Whitchurch Lock	Child Beale Park	Down	3000M
Pairs Head of River		October	Tideway	Champs C.	Either	6800M
Reading Small Boats Head		October	Caversham Lock	1000m Downstream of Roebuck Hotel	Down	3300M
Reading University Head of the River		February/March	Caversham Lock	The Roebuck Hotel, Tilehurst	Down	4500M
Schools' Head of the River Race	Junior	March	Tideway	Champs C.	Either	6800M
Teddington Small Boats Head		November	Teddington Lock	Dittons Skiff and Punting Club	Down	5000M
Thames Valley Trial Head		January	Dorney Lake
Torpids	O. U.	March	Iffley Lock		Up
Tideway Scullers Head		April	Tideway
Tiffin Small Boats Head		October	Teddington Lock		Down	5300M
Upper Thames Small Boats Head		October	Hambleden Lock		Up	3500M
Vesta Veterans International Eights Head of the River Race	Veteran	March	Tideway	Champs C.	Either	6800M
Vesta Scullers Head of River Race		November/ December	Tideway	Champs C	Either	6800M
Veteran Fours Head	Veteran	November	Tideway	Champs C.	Either	6800M
Wallingford LD Sculls		October	Cleeve Lock	Moulsford Railway Bridge	Up	4000M
Walton Small Boats Head		December	Sunbury Lock		Down	3000M
Weybridge Silver Sculls		October	Sunbury Lock		Up	3300M
Weybridge Winter Head		January	Sunbury Lock		Up	3000M
Wingfield Sculls		October	Tideway	Putney	Up	6800M
Women's Head	Ladies	March	Tideway	Champs C.	Either	6500M

Other events

Clubs

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

Major clubs

Abingdon Rowing Club
Barn Elms Rowing Club
Barnes Bridge Ladies Rowing Club
Burway Rowing Club
City of Oxford Rowing Club
Cygnet Rowing Club
Curlew Rowing Club
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club
Furnivall Sculling Club
Goring Gap Rowing Club
Henley Rowing Club
HSBC Rowing Club
Maidenhead Rowing Club
Marlow Rowing Club
Nautilus Rowing Club
Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club
Quintin Boat Club
Reading Rowing Club
Thames Tradesmen's Rowing Club
Wallingford Rowing Club
Weybridge Ladies Amateur Rowing Club
Weybridge Rowing Club

Universities

Brasenose College Boat Club (Oxford)
Kingston Student Rowing Club (Kingston University)
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
Pembroke College Boat Club (Oxford)
Queen Mary, University of London Boat Club
Reading University Boat Club
Royal Holloway, University of London Boat Club
St Bartholomew's and the London Hospitals' Boat Club
St. George's Hospital Boat Club

Schools

Poetry of Rowing

Jolly boating weather,

And a hay harvest breeze,

Blade on the feather,

Shade off the trees,

Swing swing together,

With your bodies between your knees,

Swing swing together,

With your bodies between your knees.

The Eton Boating Song may be too sophisticated for the average riverside heckler, and an oarsman or oarswoman is more likely to be treated to a rendition of the nursery rhyme Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is like a dream.

References

British Rowing Almanack (2006)

External links

Thames Regional Rowing Council
David Biddulph's rowing pages
the Tideway showing detailed rules for rowers, the deep water channel, local rowing clubs and other landmarks.

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Rowing on the River Thames