Scullers Head of the River Race

Scullers Head of the River Race
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Championship Course, River Thames in London, England
Years active	1954-Present
Previous event	7 December 2019
Next event	November/December 2020
Participants	500 crews
Website	www.vestarowing.co.uk/vesta-scullers-head

The Scullers Head of the River Race is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney, open to single scullers only. The race is held in November or early December each year on a week usually to suit the mid-morning or mid-afternoon timing of the ebb tide.

History

The Scullers Head was first raced in 1954 when it was won by John Marsden. ^[1] It now admits entries of over 500 scullers ^[2] and is the largest sculling race in the UK for a single class of racing shell. The race gains enough entries to organise the greatest number of marshalls for any singles event on the Thames and it draws considerably more overseas single scullers than the same race held in reverse usually three to four weeks before, the Wingfield Sculls, which dates to the middle of the 19th century.

In 2014 were the first admissions of categories for adaptive rowing for athletes with disabilities, in TA and LTA adaptive rowing classifications. ^[2]

Annual organisation

The race is organised by Vesta Rowing Club, Putney, London.

Results

Men

Date [3]	Winner	Club	Time	Notes
1954	A J Marsden	Vesta RC
1955	T A Fox	London RC
1956	T A Fox	London RC
1957	D V Melvin	John O'Gaunt RC
1958	D V Melvin	John O'Gaunt RC
1959	M A Spracklen	Marlow RC
1960	G V Justicz	Birmingham RC
1961	K R Smith	Nottingham University BC
1962	N J Birkmyre & J M Russell	Ariel RC & Molesey BC		Dead Heat
1963	W L Barry	Quintin BC
1964	W L Barry	Quintin BC
1965	W L Barry	Quintin BC
1966	W L Barry	Quintin BC
1967	H A Wardell-Yerburgh
1968	H A Wardell-Yerburgh
1969	K V Dwan	Poplar, Blackwell and District RC
1970	K V Dwan	Poplar, Blackwell and District RC
1971	K V Dwan	Poplar, Blackwell and District RC
1972	P G R Delafield	Tideway Scullers School
1973	K V Dwan	Poplar, Blackwell and District RC
1974	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1975	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1976	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1977	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1978	T J Crooks	Leander Club
1979	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1980	M Spencer	Poplar, Blackwell and District RC
1981	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1982	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1983	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1984	Chris L Ballieu	Leander Club
1985	Carl Smith	Nottingham RC
1986	Steve Redgrave	Marlow RC
1987	Nick Burfitt	Imperial College BC
1988	Simon Larkin	Nottingham RC
1989	Simon Larkin	Nottingham RC
1990	Rory Henderson	Leander Club	22:51
1991	Steven Redgrave	Marlow RC	21:32
1992	Guy Pooley	Leander Club	20:56
1993	Peter Haining	Auriol Kensington RC	23:13
1994	Peter Haining	Auriol Kensington RC	19:53
1995	Niall O'Toole	Commercial Rowing Club, Dublin	21:16
1996	Peter Haining	Auriol Kensington RC	21:49
1997	Martin Kettle	Queens Tower BC	20:31
1998	Greg Searle	Molesey BC	21:18
1999	Giles Monnickendam	Nottinghamshire County RA	21:29
2000	Rod Chisholm	Tideway Scullers School
2001	Guy Pooley	Leander Club	20:03.94
2002	Tim Male	Tideway Scullers School
2003	Cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2004	Mark Hunter	Leander Club	21:22.13
2005	Tom Gale	Tideway Scullers School	22:05.18
2006	Mahé Drysdale	Tideway Scullers School	19:55.26
2007	George Whittaker	Imperial College BC	20:58.76
2008	Alan Campbell	Tideway Scullers School	20:30.57
2009	Jamie Kirkwood	Imperial College BC	20:55.38
2010	Stephen Feeney [4]	London RC	21:31.20
2011	Adam Freeman-Pask	Imperial College BC	21:09.02
2012	Alan Campbell	Tideway Scullers School	20:43.32
2013	Sigmund Verstraete	Walton RC	21:06.99
2014	Jamie Copus	Oxford Brookes University BC	21:03.55
2015	Cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2016	Pedro Fraga	Sporting Clube de Portugal
2017	Calvin Tarczy	St Paul's School BC
2018	Cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2019	Sebastian Devereux	Leander Club	21:20.97
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Jamie Copus	Oxford Brookes University BC	21:40.17
2022	Rui Xu	London RC	20:52.11
2023	Jamie Copus	Oxford Brookes University BC	20:37.02
2024	Cancelled due to no river closure

Women

Date [3]	Winner	Club	Time
1975	J Rankine	Thames RC
1976	C Moss	Thames RC
1977	D Bishop	Wallingford RC
1978	S Hhandscomb	Civil Service Ladies' RC
1979	B Jones	Thames RC
1980	J A Corbin	Civil Service Ladies' RC
1981
1982
1983	N Ray	Imperial College BC
1984	B Jones	Broxbourne RC
1985	N Ray	Rob Roy BC
1986	S Clark	City of Cambridge RC
1987	G Bond	Civil Service Ladies' RC
1988	A Marden	Thames Tradesmen's RC
1989	A Marden	Thames Tradesmen's RC
1990	A Marden	Thames Tradesmen's RC
1991	A Marden	Thames Tradesmen's RC
1992	A Marden	Thames Tradesmen's RC
1993	A Hall	Upper Thames RC
1994	A Hall	Upper Thames RC
1995	Guin Batten	Thames RC
1996	P Reid	Lea RC
1997	Guin Batten	Thames RC
1998	Guin Batten	Thames RC
1999	Sue Appelboom	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha BC
2000	H Casey	Wallingford RC
2001	Sue Appelboom	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha BC
2002	Guin Batten	Leander Club
2003	Cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2004	K Greves	University of London BC
2005	M Pauls	Imperial College BC
2006	J Golsack	Wallingford RC
2007	K Stiller	Nottingham RC
2008	Hester Goodsell	Reading University BC
2009	Hester Goodsell [5]	Reading University BC	22:21.92
2010	Beth Rodford [6]	Gloucester RC	22:54.06
2011	Imogen Walsh	London RC	22:35.9
2012	Georgina Phillips	Imperial College BC	22:40.24
2013	Lou Reeve	Leander Club	22:14:41 [7]
2014	Brianna Stubbs	Wallingford RC	22:41.31
2015	Cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2016	Suzi Perry	Thames RC
2017	Meghann Jackson	Thames RC
2018	cancelled due to exceptional weather conditions
2019	Katy Wilkinson-Feller	Tideway Scullers School	22:38.70
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Jessica Leyden	Leander Club	23:16.87
2022	Katie Mole	University of Birmingham BC	23:05.78
2023	Georgia Mianarow	London RC	21:49.73
2024	Cancelled due to no river closure

See also

• Metropolitan Regatta The London Cup (singles). Held in late May/very early June at Eton-Dorney Lake.
• Diamond Challenge Sculls rowed by race-winning singles at Henley Royal Regatta, forming the second prerequisite of the rare accomplishment of a 'Triple Crown' with those above and below. Held in July.
• Wingfield Sculls rowed by singles along the course in reverse, the last component of the 'Triple Crown'. Held in October or early November. Where the Scullers' Head is also won there is the theoretical possibility of a 'Quadruple Crown' for a single sculler able to win all four events. As the Diamond Sculls is not open to women, a win at the Scullers Head forms the last leg of the UK's Triple Crown for an all-round champion female single sculler.
• Rowing on the River Thames

References

1. Daily Telegraph Obituary John Marsden 5 March 2004
2. Main page noting new facts and full capacity of 550 entries has been reached in 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
3. 1 2 British Rowing Almanack. London: World Sports. 1948–2024.
4. "Stephen Feeney | British Rowing". Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
5. "Scullers' Head".
6. "Scullers' Head".
7. Scullers Head 2013 Results (pdf) Vesta Rowing Club. Retrieved 2014-17-11.

External links

• Scullers Head