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The Head of the Yarra [1] is a rowing regatta held on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. It is a head race, with each crew having a separate start time. Organized by Hawthorn Rowing Club, [2] it is the largest eights-only rowing event in Australia, and is listed as one of the three most notable head races along with the Head of the River Race and the Head of the Charles. The regatta is limited to eights and was first run in 1957. There are no weight classed events, and coxswains are not weighed.
Currently, the race is run over an 8.0 km course (map) from the Henley staging in the centre of Melbourne to the Hawthorn Rowing Club in Hawthorn. The fastest crews usually complete the course in around 25 minutes, with the majority of crews taking between 30 and 40 minutes.
The 2017 running of the regatta, held on November 25, had 256 crews competing in 31 categories, with crews from all Australian states, New Zealand, Japan and the USA.
The 2018 Head of the Yarra was the event's 60th edition, and was held on November 24, 2019. There were 254 crews entered. The results included the fastest men's crew, being a composite crew from the Sydney and Adelaide Rowing Club s, in a time of 24 minutes 51 seconds, and the fastest women's crew, representing Mercantile Rowing Club, in a time of 27 minutes 42 seconds. [3]
The race went on a one-year hiatus in 2020.
The Head of the Yarra is conducted by Rowing Victoria, a member of Rowing Australia, and each edition of the regatta has an entries and information page associated with it, for example the 2018 regatta: .
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars—one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October each year on the Charles River, which separates Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts United States. It is the largest 3-day regatta in the world, with 11,000 athletes rowing in over 1,900 boats in 61 events. According to the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, the three-day event brings 225,000 people to the Greater Boston area and $72 million to the local economy.
The Head of the River is a name given to annual Australian rowing regattas held in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. The regattas feature competing independent schools, and the winner of the 1st division boys or girls race is crowned the "Head of the River".
James Bruce Tomkins, is an Australian rower, seven-time World Champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is Australia's most awarded oarsman, having made appearances at six Olympic games ; eleven World Championships ; four Rowing World Cups and eighteen state representative King's Cup appearances – the Australian blue riband men's VIII event,. Tomkins is one of only five Australian athletes and four rowers worldwide to compete at six Olympics. From 1990 to 1998 he was the stroke of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.
The Head of the River Race (HORR) is an against-the-clock ('processional') rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England between eights, other such races being the Schools' Head of the River Race, Women's Head of the River Race and Veterans' Head of the River Race. Its competitors are, with a few experienced junior exceptions, seniors of UK or overseas competitors and it runs with the ebb tide down the 4.25 mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney which hosts the Oxford and Cambridge head-to-head races usually between one and two weeks later.
A head race is a time-trial competition in the sport of rowing. Head races are typically held in the fall, winter and spring seasons. These events draw many athletes as well as observers. In this form of racing, rowers race against the clock where the crew or rower completing the course in the shortest time in their age, ability and boat-class category is deemed the winner.
Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
University rowing in the United Kingdom began when it was introduced to Oxford in the late 18th century. The first known race at a university took place at Oxford in 1815 between Brasenose and Jesus and the first inter-university boat race, between Oxford and Cambridge, was rowed on 10 June 1829.
The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup is a rowing event at Henley Royal Regatta open to school 1st VIIIs.
The Oxford and Cambridge Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the Australian University Championship Men's Eight, and is competed for annually at the Australian University Games or the Australian University Rowing Championships. It is the oldest inter-University competition in Australia. The cup is awarded to the winning men's Eight over a standard 2,000m course.
The Victorian Head of the River regatta is contested between the eleven Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS).
The Head of the River rowing regatta in Western Australia is an annual rowing event held at the Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Champion Lakes. There are two separate events. The boys regatta held in autumn, and the girls regatta held in winter.
The Riverview Gold Cup Regatta is a rowing regatta with limited club events and mainly school crew events, held annually by Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is an official Rowing NSW event within the New South Wales club season. The Riverview Gold Cup is the trophy contested by the men's open senior eight - the blue riband event of the day.
The Victorian Head of the Schoolgirls regatta is contested between girls at schools from all across the state of Victoria Australia. Schools from the Girls Sport Victoria (GSV) and also Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS), as well as smaller school rowing groups which enter under a rowing club banner, compete in a range of events over 1000m for the Year 9 and Year 10 events or 1500m for the Open events.
The Adelaide Rowing Club (ARC) is a rowing club located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Patron of the ARC is the Right Honourable former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese.
Brett Hayman is an Australian three time world champion, a dual Olympian and an Australian national champion rowing coxswain. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics steering the Australian men's eight. He coxed Australian crews at every premier world rowing regatta from 1993 to 2000.
Cantabrigian Rowing Club, known as Cantabs, is a 'town' rowing and sculling club in Cambridge, UK.
The King's Cup is Australia's blue riband annual rowing race for men. Since 1878 it has been contested by state representative senior heavyweight men's eights at the annual Australian Interstate Regatta. Since 1973 the Australian Interstate Regatta has been conducted on the final day of the week-long annual Australian Rowing Championships. The King's Cup is the final event of the Australian Championships and the Interstate Regatta.
Justine Joyce is an Australian former representative rower. She is national champion and a world champion and is the standing world record holder in the women's lightweight coxless pair.