Women's Eights Head of the River Race

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Women's Eights Head of the River Race
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s) Championship Course, River Thames in London, England
Years active1927 – present
Previous event4 March 2023
Next event9 March 2024
Participants320 crews
Website www.wehorr.org
Championship Course on a flood tide (e.g. for the Boat Race). The Start and Finish are reversed when racing on an ebb tide. "Middlesex" and "Surrey" denote banks of the Thames Tideway, not the actual English counties University Boat Race Thames map.svg
Championship Course on a flood tide (e.g. for the Boat Race). The Start and Finish are reversed when racing on an ebb tide. "Middlesex" and "Surrey" denote banks of the Thames Tideway, not the actual English counties

The Women's Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR) is a processional rowing race held annually on the Tideway of the River Thames in London on the 4+14-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney.

Contents

A mirror of the Eights Head of the River for male crews, it is held a fortnight earlier when the tides are similar. It is raced on the outgoing tide and starting around one hour after high tide in order to maximise advantage from the tidal flow.

Around 300 crews of women (with the occasional male coxswain) compete for over a dozen trophies and pennants. [1] There are categories for beginners, elite and veteran rowers.

History

The race was first held in 1927 following the first running of the men's version in 1926. At first it was simply a match between Ace and Weybridge LARC. This race was run as a side-by-side race, with Weybridge winning in a boat borrowed from Thames Rowing Club. The second year featured the same two crews, and the same result. In 1929, for the third race, there was the addition of Alpha, having formed in a split from Ace in 1927. Alpha won this running of the race.

The first running of the race in processional format was in 1930, as the entries had risen to five, making it impossible to run fairly in the side-by-side format on the tidal river. Furnivall Sculling Club (then an all women's club) won this first processional version of the race. It then continued in similar format annually until the outbreak of war in 1939.

The event restarted in 1950, with a shortened course of 2 miles, as it was felt that the effects of the war years and food rationing made the full course too hard. Entries grew from the original five to twelve by the mid 50s, and then declined to only six by the mid 60s. The lack of sectional boats meant that it was extremely difficult to transport boats from further afield, so the event was largely confined to the London clubs.

In the period from the 1970s onwards, entries rose ten-fold from 27 in 1977 to 300 in 2009. [2] International crews have been visiting London to compete and entries have come from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and United States.

Records

[3]

AwardYearTimeCrew
Head201417:42.21Army RC/Gloucester RC/Imperial College BC/London RC/Minerva-Bath RC/Oxford Brookes University BC/Tees RC
Club200018:08.35 Marlow RC
Overseas201418:20.55Aviron Grenoble/C Aviron Nante/ Gerardmer AS Rowing/Lagny SN/Societe d'Encouragement du Sport Nautique (FRA)
Senior201718:36.2Imperial College A
Intermediate 1201118:53.69 Reading University BC A
Provincial Club201318:57.54 Nottingham RC A
Intermediate 2200718:59.76Imperial Col/Jesus College (Cam)/London RC/Wallingford/Westminster
University201718:17.7 Cambridge University Women's BC A
Masters201419:02.42Clydesdale ARC/Molesey BC/Leander Club/Marlow RC/Tideway Scullers School/Thames RC [raw time]
Intermediate 3201319:07.92 University of London BC A
School/Junior201719:15.9 Headington School, Oxford BC A
Medium Club201720:07.9Exeter RC A
Small Club201720:26.6 St Andrew BC
Novice Club201419:48.19Henley RC C
Novice Academic201420:01.84 Newcastle University BC C

Past winners

YearCrewTime
2022 Leander Club 19:15.8
2018 Leander Club 18:34.7
2017 Leander Club 18:13.1
2016 Leander Club/Reading RC/Tees RC 19:17.7 [4]
2015Army BC/Imperial College BC/London RC/Marlow RC/Minerva-Bath RC/Oxford Brookes University BC/Southampton Coalporters ARC18:58.6 [5]
2014Army RC/Gloucester RC/Imperial College BC/London RC/Minerva-Bath RC/Oxford Brookes University BC/Tees RC17:42.21 [6]
2013Imperial College BC A18:16.57 [7]
2012Thames Rowing Club A20:10.92 [8]
2011 Leander Club 18:06.57 [9]
2010Gloucester / Imperial College / Marlow / Reading University / Thames / University of London18:10.67 [10]
2009London / Hollandia / Thames / Marlow / University of London18:28.27 [11]

See also

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References

  1. "WEHoRR Website" . Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. British Rowing Women's Head Prizegiving Archived 26 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Results - Women's Eights Head of the River Race". wehorr.org.
  4. "Women's Head of the River Race 2016 results" (PDF).
  5. "Women's Head of the River Race 2015 results" (PDF).
  6. "Women's Head of the River Race 2014 results" (PDF).
  7. "Women's Head of the River Race 2013 results" (PDF).
  8. "Women's Head of the River Race 2012 results" (PDF).
  9. "Women's Head of the River Race 2011 results" (PDF).
  10. "Women's Head of the River Race 2010 results" (PDF).
  11. "Women's Head of the River Race 2009 results" (PDF).