The Head of The River Race 2014: Not Waiving but Drowning

Crew number 53, Griffen Boat Club, goes under.

Tim Koch writes:

The organisers of the Head of the River Race have put out the following announcement:

The Head of the River Race was abandoned this afternoon at 2:55pm after about 75 crews had passed the finish line. The organisers faced the difficult decision as to whether water conditions were sufficiently safe to start the race. The tide turned about 20 minutes late, and whilst most of the course enjoyed near perfect conditions, gusting winds made the finish marshalling area very difficult for rowing. After a 15 minutes delay to the start, and a reduced wind, the decision was made to start Divisions 1 and 2. However, it soon became clear that as crews in these divisions were struggling to cope beyond the finish line, the decision was taken to abandon the race. A number of times had been taken before the abandonment and these are now published for information only purposes. As the Race was not completed, the times have no official bearing. We are very disappointed that we were unable to provide rowers with the race they wanted, and thank you for your understanding in difficult conditions.

Boating from Hammersmith. It started well, it was ‘shirtsleeves’ weather with a light breeze.

Reading Rowing Club II goes afloat.

Balliol College, Oxford passes the many blades stacked outside Furnivall Sculling Club.

Boating from Putney. As can be seen, the river was a little ‘lumpy’ at high water, but the expectation was that it would calm down when the tide started to fall. The race is timed so the first crews get the fasted water, usually about an hour after the tide starts to go out.

The wind picks up.

Leander I were the first crew to pass the finish line which is just above the ‘UBR’ stone marking the start of the Oxford - Cambridge Boat Race. Their time was 18 minutes, 16 seconds.

Molesey I were the second boat to finish, but were the fastest crew overall with a time of 18 minutes, 5 seconds.

Conditions were worst around Hammersmith, about a mile and a half from the finish. However, crews such as Forward Morges from Switzerland found the going fairly rough along Putney Embankment as well.

The first indication for those of us at the finish that there were problems was when Crew 42, Karlsruhe Wiking from Germany, became an ‘unterseeboot’.

Karlsruhe Wiking are rescued.

Muelhei  Ruhr, also from Germany, managed to get the slipway below Waterman’s Green to empty several litres of the Thames out of their boat.

Suddenly, everyone was joining in. These Old Abingdonians seem stoical about the whole thing.

With the race abandoned, everyone who had started to race headed for the nearest land to bail out.

The top ten crews were:

1) Molesey BC I: 18 05 05
2) Leander I: 18 16 00
3) University of London: 18 36 70
4) Leander II: 18 40 51
5) Nerus (Netherlands): 18 45 11
6) Oxford Brooks I: 18 46 66
7) Leander IV: 18 56 63
8) Leander III: 18 59 03
9) Imperial College II: 18 59 16
10) Imperial College I: 19 00 11

London V puts the river back where it belongs.

While accepting that a potentially dangerous situation developed (though thankfully no one was hurt) it must be admitted that it was good spectator sport, perhaps more interesting than if the race had gone off as intended. I was reminded of a verse from “Albert and the Lion”, an old comic monologue by Marriott Edgar about a northern English family’s trip to the seaside holiday resort of Blackpool:

They didn’t think much to the ocean

The waves, they was fiddlin’ and small
There was no wrecks... nobody drownded

‘Fact, nothing to laugh at, at all.

Photography © Tim Koch

HoRR in 2014 and in 1928

HoRR - a well-organised chaos! Photo: British Rowing. 

UPDATE: The HoRR was abandoned this afternoon after about 75 crews had passed the finish line.
 
Today, at 14:15 (2:15 p.m.), it is time for the Head of the River Race (HoRR), when slightly more than 400 eights race the 4 1/2-mile course between Mortlake and Putney (the Boat Race course in reverse). The race was founded by the famous coach Steve Fairbairn in 1926. For more information and to see the start order click here. Follow the race on Twitter - @EightsHead

The other day, Peter Simpson of Vesta RC was looking through some old papers at Vesta and found some instructions for HoRR umpires from 1928. Peter sent it to HTBS, so we could share it with our many readers:

Head of the River Race, 24th March, 1928

Duties etc. of Umpires

.......... at ..........

You have been appointed umpire at the above point for the Head of the River Race on Saturday, 24 March, 1928. It is suggested that Umpires should be in pair-oared or four-oared tub boats. They should be on their alleted stations at 3.0 p.m. All crews will have numbers in the bows of the boat, and the cox's back. When the race has started, umpires should if necessary warn coxswains who are obstruting the passage of an overtaking crew.
Boats being overtaken must be got out of the course of boats overtaking, so that the latter have a clear way through. Umpires must see that this is done. Any delay in obeying may lead to disqualification if the overtaking boat is forced out of its course, whether or not a clash takes place.
Umpires are also requested to warn river traffic that the race is coming down, and so help clear the course. Your presence is requested at Westminster Bank Rowing Club, Putney at 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 March, when a meeting of officials will take place. Every umpire's boat must carry a flag. This is at the request of the Port of London Authority.

Great stuff, Peter ~ thank you for sharing!

And then we have some moving pictures that Tim Koch found on British Pathe, from the 1931 race and the 1932 race - enjoy!

"WHAT A LOT OF EIGHTS!" aka WHAT ALOT OF EIGHTS

127 "EIGHTS"

A Blow To The Head

Not this year. Molesey go off Number One in 2011.

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from London,

On the day before four hundred men’s eights, many from overseas, were due to race the Mortlake to Putney course in the 2013 Head of the River Race, the organisers’ website made the following announcement:

The Committee of the Head of the River Race regrets to advise that the 2013 Race on Saturday 23rd March has been cancelled. After detailed consultation and consideration of the weather forecasts, the Committee consider the river conditions over parts of the course could be unsafe due to the expected strong easterly winds throughout the day.

The Veterans (Masters) Head, due to be held the next day, was also cancelled. The British Rowing website expanded on the HoRR’s decision:

Organisers of the HoRR announced this morning (Friday 22nd) that the race would not be run, due to the combination of wind direction and speed, the strength of the stream, and the low temperatures forecast over the weekend. The stretch of river between the bottom of Chiswick Eyot and St. Pauls School was of particular concern to HORR organisers, with easterly 15-30mph winds, freezing temperatures and strong stream leading to potentially dangerous conditions for the 400+ crews taking part in the event - many of whom have little experience rowing on the Tideway.

The race has been cancelled due to the weather and stream conditions twice before, in 2004 and 2007. The organisers were no doubt influenced by the experience of the Hammersmith Head held on 10 March. This was run from Mortlake to Hammersmith (i.e. just over half of the traditional Mortlake to Putney ‘Championship’ Course) and attracted 100 men’s eights. Despite having the most experienced people on the Thames Tideway in charge of safety, the water around Chiswick Pier unexpectedly became very rough, very quickly and the result was that most boats filled with water and at least three had to be rescued. Not surprisingly, the craft that suffered the most seemed to have buoyancy tanks that were not water tight. In one case this was because holes had been drilled in the tanks to allow cox box wiring to be threaded through!

The unusually cold and wet winter has badly effected rowing in the UK. Just looking at 2013, head races including Weybridge, Boston, Northampton, Stourport, Peterborough, Durham, The Severn, Hampton, Henley, Molesey, Worcester, Burway, and Cardiff have been cancelled due to stream and weather conditions. The Environment Agency (the body responsible for Britain’s rivers) have ‘red boarded’ most of the none tidal Thames. This means that they strongly advise powered and non powered craft to stay off the water. This has severely curtailed rowing at clubs such as Marlow, Molesey, Maidenhead, Henley, Staines and Kingston. There is no procedure for ‘red boards’ on the tidal Thames below Richmond Lock but this does not make it any the less hazardous. I have coxed the Tideway for 25 years and there have been a few times this winter when the strength of the stream has required all my experience to keep control.

Nothing is new - Oxford practice in the floods of 1872.

The organisers of the Henley Boat Races, the Oxford - Cambridge races for heavyweight, reserve heavyweight and lightweight women and lightweight men, have pre-empted the problem and, on 20 March announced:

The organising committee... has made the decision to move this year’s event to Dorney Lake. In view of the strong stream conditions at Henley and the forecast direction and strength of wind for race day, Sunday 24th March, it was deemed unlikely that conditions will improve sufficiently by the weekend for a safe event to take place.

Dorney was, of course, the venue for the rowing events in the London 2012 Olympics. While not as an attractive venue as Henley, it does mean that the event is fairly certain to take place. All this gives rise to the question, could THE Boat Race, due to held on the Tideway on 31 March, be cancelled? I think it unlikely. Even with a higher risk to both boats than would normally be tolerated, the ‘danger’ would probably be accepted as there is obviously a massive rescue operation available.

The women have had more luck with the weather. The 73rd Women’s Head of the River Race was held on 9 March, a mild day with little wind. Race Co-ordinator Guin Batten wrote on the WHoRR website:

The 73rd Women’s Eights Head of the River was the largest in the event’s history and coming one day after International Women’s Day, highlights that women are out there doing sport and doing it to a very high standard. On a rather dull day the stream was fast and the wind slight, allowing number of records to fall. Well done to the pennant winners, the 200 volunteers and marshals, to the 90 women’s novice crews and their coaches and to the 2,727 rowers that made it over the course, in such style.

Imperial College BC ‘A’ came ‘head’ in a time of 18:16:57. Other results are here.

The School’s Head also managed to take place on the Championship Course on 7 March with Hampton going ‘head’. Other results are here.

It has been a long, hard winter. Let us hope that those clubs who have spent a lot of time on the ergos and little time on the water will have a better summer.

The 80th Head Of The River Race

The Czech Rowing Federation on the left overtake Molesey at Hammersmith Bridge.

A wet St Patrick’s Day, Saturday 17 March, saw the 80th Head of the River Race on the Thames in London. Here is Tim Koch report:

When this event was founded in 1926 it was the first processional boat race of its type and so the organisers have never felt it necessary to add ‘men’s’ or ‘eights’ to its title. A potted history of the HoRR is given in my report on the 2011 race.

Hammersmith Bridge: any half decent crew can race the 12 minutes to here. But after this point it starts to hurt.

This year saw 404 entries with the usual good turnout from Germany (29 crews), Switzerland (12), and Spain (6). There were single representatives from Austria, Hungary, Russia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, and France.

The Czech Rowing Federation (No. 3) won in a time of 17 minutes 34 seconds with Leander I (No. 1) second place (17m 56s), and Molesey I (No. 2) third place (18m 01s). The only other non British crews to win the Head of the River Race were RV Münster von 1882 (Germany) in 1993 and 1994 and The Netherlands Rowing Federation in 1995. The course record still stands at 16m 37s, set by the British National Squad in 1987.

Professor Boris Rankov, six times Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race winner, marshals from Hammersmith Bridge. His electronic megaphone gave out so he fell back on using something much more appropriate to a professor of ancient history.

The full results are here.

Hammersmith Bridge: for some the race is over, for others it is only 60% done.

Round the Harrods Bend before the long, hard straight to Putney.

The Fairbairn Trophy for the crew that goes 'Head'.

Women’s HoRR - The View From The Cox Seat

On 3 March it was time for the Women's Head of the River Race in London. Tim Koch reports:

There are many rowing videos on YouTube but the majority feature very average rowing and are usually either unedited or badly edited. A notable exception to this is an in boat video showing the winning crew in the Women’s Head of the River Race held on the Mortlake to Putney course on the Thames on 3rd March. The text accompanying the film says:

Thames Rowing Club go Head of the River on the 3rd March 2012 at 11am. Going off 12 on a neap tide they weaved their way through to win in 20.11 minutes. A suicidal push into a brutal head wind after Hammersmith Bridge won them the race. Listen to the powerful calls from Hannah and watch the crew find their soul. It is the first non-composite win for Thames since 2001 and their 17th since 1930. Well-done from bow Carrie, Sarah, Sophie, Charley, Catherine, Barbara, Emma and stoke Sophie. Respect.



Cut down to seven minutes the video shows a great crew in action (many men's boats would like to be as fast), some fine coxing and an unusual view of the famous 'Championship Course'. Enjoy the video here.

The Pennant Winners were:

Head: Thames RC A 20:10.92

Senior: Imperial College BC/Sport Imperial BC A 20:18.25

University: Reading University BC A 20:30.66

Overseas: RC Belvoir Zurich A 20:16.78

Provincial: Club Nottingham RC A 20:27.81

Intermediate 1: Durham University BC A 20:45.11

Intermediate 2: Cambridge University Women's BC A 20:38.71

Intermediate 3: Cardiff University BC A 21:10.76

Masters: Willem III 21:46.84

School/Junior: Headington School Oxford BC A 20:58.31

Novice Academic: Cardiff University BC C 22:52.49

Novice Club: Lea RC C 22:04.30

HM Forces: Royal Air Force RC 23:55.96

A Good Oar!

If you happen to have £830 to spare and you would like to get yourself a nice piece of rowing history to put on your wall, I have found something for you! On eBay, the British site, is right now a rowing trophy which truly belongs in a museum: a decorated commemorative oar blade from the Head of the River Race in 1912, winner New College, Oxford. It is Bob Bourne’s famous eight with Gillespie, Burdekin, Wiggins, Pitman, Littlejohn, and the others who also took an Olympic silver medal in Stockholm that year. Some of the oarsmen also rowed in the victorious Blue boat that beat Cambridge for the fourth running year (with Bourne at stroke!).

The auction, which is a ‘buy it now’ item, ends on 2 November, so hurry, hurry….. To go to the item, click here.

Saluting The Head Of The River, PS

On 13 June, HTBS posted an entry about "Saluting the Head of the River" of which we knew very little. However, last Friday Malcolm Cook of Quintin Boat Club left an interesting comment which slightly edited reads:

Saluting the Head of the River was part of a ceremony known as the Procession of Boats, a description of which can be found in Sherwood's Oxford Rowing. A pdf version of the book can be downloaded here. The section on the Procession of Boats starts on page 98. Sherwood was writing in 1900, only 10 years after the illustration in the English Illustrated Magazine, but the Procession had already been abolished by then. An 1863 illustration of the Procession of Boats can be seen above.

Thank you, Malcolm!

Saluting The Head Of The River

In yesterday's entry about William Greenfell, 1st Baron of Desborough, I brought up his article "Rowing at Oxford" which was published in the English Illustrated Magazine in 1890. One of the illustrations can be seen above, "Saluting Head of the River", which I find a wonderful picture. It is, however, not to be confused with the Eton Processions of Boats that Tim Koch wrote about a week ago.

The 2011 Head Of The River Race

This year's winner of HoRR, Leander I, passing the Ship & Mortlake Brewery.

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from the Thames, 2 April:
As reported in HTBS on 20th March, the British rowing season really starts with in late March/early April with various time trials for eights over the Mortlake to Putney Course. Last Saturday, 2nd April, saw the biggest of these, the (Mens) Head of the River Race, HoRR. Three hundred and ninety eight boats rowed the four and a quarter miles (6.8 km) of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Course, each setting off at ten second intervals on an ebb tide. Until the London Marathon was established in 1981, the HoRR was the largest participant event in Britain with over 3,500 competitors and is still the largest single boat type rowing race. The Head of the Charles in Boston, Massachusetts, has 8,000 competitors but the event is held over two days and has 55 different race events for various boat types.

University Post and Chiswick Bridge, which is the start of HoRR, and the finish line for the Boat Race.

A crew’s HoRR result tells it were it stands in relation to its peers. Almost every UK rowing club will put in at least one boat and entries from abroad increase every year. In 2011 there were crews from Czech Republic (2), Germany (26), Spain (6), Hungary (1), Switzerland (10), Portugal (1), France (1), Croatia (1), and the Netherlands (1). I cannot recall any entries from North America in past years but I suspect that any crews planning to make the long trip find Henley a more attractive destination.

The first ten finishers were:

Finish-Start-Time
1 2 16 50.75 Leander I
2 1 16 54.21 Molesey I
3 3 16 59.60 Czech Rowing Federation I
4 6 17 3.77 Leander II
5 20 17 7.53 Czech Rowing Federation II
6 4 17 11.93 Astillero (Spain)
7 8 17 15.58 Imperial College I
8 7 17 17.11 London I
9 33 17 22.21 Csepel (Hungary)
10 12 17 23.91 Molesey II

The full results are here.

2011 Chief Umpire, John Duff

If most people involved in rowing gave the matter any thought, they would imagine that winter ‘Heads’ have existed as long as the traditional side by side racing done in the summer months. In fact the concept was developed only in the mid-1920s by the hugely influential coach, Stephen Fairbairn (1862-1938), universally known as ‘Steve’. He was inspired by older ‘bump racing’ held at Oxford and Cambridge but this was a different event, originally with a different purpose - to mark the end of winter training and to encourage crews to train over long distances. Steve strongly believed in the benefits of distance training, ‘milage makes champions’ was one of his many adages. (See more here.)

He denied that the Head was really a race, he held that “...it is merely a means of getting crews to do long rows”. In his A History of Rowing (1957), Hylton Cleaver says “Steve Fairbairn did not plan his idea as anything more than a target at which those who rowed through the winter could aim, so that at the end of a period of comparative drudgery they could find out who profited most”.

A few years after the first Head in 1926, the idea had spread to many other rowing courses both in Britain and abroad and there were time trials for every boat type. There is a nice newsreel film of the 1934 Tideway Eights Head here (70 seconds in) though these days there is a ‘rolling’ not ‘standing’ start. Some recognition should go to the organisers in the pre-computer age who worked out the results for four hundred crews with only analogue stopwatches, pencil and paper and mental arithmetic (none of which our younger readers would be familiar with). I remember that timekeeping for the Head of the River Fours in the 1980s was a dangerous business as they supplied you with pencils sharpened to a very fine point at both ends and there were several self stabbing incidents. No doubt one day soon all boats will be fitted with a Global Positioning System and the results will be instantaneous.

The trophy for the first placed ‘Head’ crew is a bust of Fairbairn sculptured by George Drinkwater (an Oxford Blue and writer on rowing) and it is usually kept in the Committee Room of the London Rowing Club [see above]. I was going to photograph it but found that it was on loan to the River and Rowing Museum at Henley for the exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of Thames Rowing Club. It amused me that, 85 years after ‘The Row’, Steve is back with Thames.

Steve would be surprised to know that now there are people who now train specifically for Heads and treat them, not as a means to an end, but as an end in themselves. He has many memorials but he would be surprised that Head Racing is, arguably, his most enduring legacy.

The Veterans’ (Masters) Head of the River was held on the day after the HoRR on Sunday 3rd April. Two hundred crews raced and the results are here.

The 2011 British Rowing Season Has Started

The British rowing season has begun HTBS's Tim Koch reports:

The 17 March saw the first of the four 'head races' for eights over the Thames Championship Course in London that mark the real start of the British rowing season. These four 'heads' or time trials are:

The Schools' Head which, this year, was on 17 March.
The Women's Head on 19 March.
The Eights (Men's) Head on 2 April.
The Veterans' (Masters) Head on 3 April.

The 'Championship Course' is the 4 mile 374 yard (6,779 metres) Mortlake to Putney course, most famously used in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race (but in the other direction). It has been used for boat racing since at least the mid nineteenth century as the 's' shaped course is as fair as one that is not straight can be. In 1999 the Amateur Rowing Association, ARA (now British Rowing) produced a video, 'Coxing a Tideway Head'. It makes interesting viewing and a lot of effort was put into its production but its random switching between 'safety' and 'steering' makes it difficult to follow if you are not already familiar with this part of the river.

The Schools Head of the River is the only one of these events that also allows quads and coxed fours. The 2011 entry was 192 eights, 78 coxed fours and 21 quads. The results are here. The top five eights were:

1 Abingdon 16:53
2 Eton 16:58
3 Shrewsbury 17:01
3 Radley 17:01
5 Shiplake 17:11

The top two positions are a reverse of last year when Eton beat Abingdon.

Eton and Abingdon.

By the 2nd lamppost.

As may be expected, parents turn out to give noisy, partisan and generally uninformed support. It is also a fairly 'social' occasion as most of the schools taking part are private, fee paying institutions. As my pictures show, one of the favourite viewing platforms is Hammersmith Bridge. Many people cluster around the famous 'second lamppost from the left of the Surrey buttress' as this is the one point that even the most incompetent coxswain knows that they have to aim for to get the fastest water.

Getting ready at Hammersmith for the 76th Women's Head of the River Race.

Marshalls' briefing before the start.

Two days later, 19 March, two hundred and ninety seven crews took part in the 76th Women's Head of the River Race. It was a warm, calm day and rowing conditions were good. The results are here and the top five were:

1 Leander Club 18:06
2 Durham Amateur / Gloucester / London / Marlow / Reading Uni. / Thames / Wallingford 18:40
3 Reading University BC 18:53
4 Imperial College / Sport Imperial 19:08
5 Tucano Urbano 19:20

The Leander crew. Photo: Giles Bedford.

The Durham composite (I think they were all Internationals) started at 214 (and so got the slower tide) while Leander went off first (with the fastest water) so there will be much debate on who is really the fastest but it is a strange spread of times for the top crews.

The first WHoRR was held in 1927, only a year after the (Men's) Head of the River Race started. The British Path site shows film of that first women's (two boat) race:

FIRST WOMEN'S BOAT RACE

It took a long time for the event to become what it is today as can be seen from the short history of the WHoRR on their website.

At Hammersmith Bridge. Photo: Claire Waterworth.

I was kept busy driving one of the umpires' boats so did not manage to take any pictures during the race, but luckily I could rely on others, like Claire Waterworth and Giles Bedford.

Reports from the Men’s Head and Veterans’ Head will follow on 3 April.

David Biddulph, on the left, runs his own rowing web site. Take a look at www.rowing.biddulph.btinternet.co.uk/

Great thanks to Tim for the report and to Claire Waterworth and Giles Bedford for allowing their photographs to be posted here on HTBS.

2010 Women's Head Of The River Race

Today it is The Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the Thames in London. 2,700 athletes will row the course between Mortlake and Putney (the opposite direction of The Boat Race). Read more about the race by clicking here. On the ‘Heads’ website there is a very interesting 11-minute video how to cox a Tideway Head – it is trickier than you think! Watch it by going to the website, or by clicking here.

Letters From Steve Fairbairn 1926

The always very alert Tim Koch of Auriol Kensington RC writes:

“You recently wrote that: ‘In the mid-1920s, Beresford (Senior) had the infamous quarrel with the club's legendary coach Steve Fairbairn, which made Fairbairn leave the club to instead coach the London RC. Decades later, this would still be remembered at Thames RC as ‘The Row’ [see 28 February].’”

Tim goes on, “A couple of interesting letters in the Auriol Kensington archive nicely marks the point at which 'Steve' left Thames. The attached copy of the letter to the Kensington RC Captain suggesting the establishment of a 'Head of the River Race' for eights is dated 27th August 1926 and is on Thames note-paper. The other letter, dated 21st September 1926 and notifying the Kensington Secretary of a meeting of interested parties, is on London note-paper.”





Honestly, is it not these ‘small foot notes’ in the history of rowing that makes all the difference, and why we still keep on researching and snooping around for more, good rowing stories?