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 near Eton 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 Docks. Rowing, or sculling, is also represented by skiffing, dinghy racing and cutter racing.

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
Barnes and Mortlake Regatta		June	Tideway
Borne at Chiswick Bridge		May	Tideway
Burway Junior Regatta	Junior	July
Chertsey Regatta	Skiffing	July	Shepperton Lock	Dumsey Meadow
Chiswick Regatta		April	Tideway
Egham Regatta		June	Bell Weir Lock	Bell Weir
Hammersmith Regatta		April	Tideway
Hampton Court and Dittons Regatta	Skiffing	July	Teddington Lock	River Mole
Henley Royal Regatta		July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island
Henley Town and Visitors Regatta		July	Hambleden Lock
Henley Veterans Regatta	Veterans	July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island
Henley Womens Regatta	Ladies	June	Hambleden Lock
Kingston Regatta		July	Teddington Lock	Raven's Ait
Maidenhead Regatta		August
Maidenhead Junior Regatta	Junior	May
Marlow Regatta		June	Dorney Lake
Marlow Spring Regatta		May
Marlow Town Regatta		June
Metropolitan Regatta		June	Dorney Lake
Molesey Regatta		July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot
Molesey Junior Regatta	Junior	July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot
Oxford City Royal Regatta		August	Iffley Lock
Oxford City Sprint Regatta		August	Iffley Lock
Putney Town Regatta		May	Tideway
Reading Amateur Regatta		June
Reading Town Regatta		June
Richmond Regatta		June	Tideway
Skiff Championships Regatta	Skiffing	August	Hambleden Lock	Henley on Thames
Sonning Regatta
Staines Regatta		July	Penton Hook Lock
Sunbury Amateur Regatta	General	August	Molesey Lock	Sunbury Court Island
Thames Ditton Regatta		May	Teddington Lock	River Mole
Thames Valley Park Regatta		June
Twickenham Regatta		May	Tideway
Wallingford Regatta		May	Dorney Lake
Walton Regatta		June	Sunbury Lock	Walton Bridge
Walton Reach Regatta	Skiffing	August	Sunbury Lock	Walton on Thames
Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta	General	August	Marsh Lock
Weybridge Ladies Regatta	Ladies	June	Sunbury Lock
Wraysbury and Old Windsor Regatta	Skiffing	July	Bell Weir Lock	The Island, Hythe End

"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
Burway Head		February
Burway Small Boats Head		December
Greenwich Head		February	Tideway
Hammersmith Head		March	Tideway
Hammersmith Womens Head	Ladies		Tideway
Hampton Fours and Eights Head	Junior	January	Molesey Lock
Head of River Fours		November
Henley Fours and Eights Head		February	Hambleden Lock
Henley Junior Head	Junior	February	Hambleden Lock
Henley Sculls Head		November	Hambleden Lock
Isis Sculls		September	Iffley Lock
Kingston Head		March	Teddington Lock
Kingston Small Boats Head		November	Teddington Lock
Marlow LD Sculls		November
Molesey Veteran Head	Veteran	February	Molesey Lock
Oxford City Bumping Races		April	Iffley Lock
Pangbourne Junior Sculls	Junior	November	Whitchurch Lock	Child Beale Wildlife Park
Pairs Head of River		October	Tideway
Schools Head of the River	Junior	March	Tideway
Teddington Sculls		February	Teddington Lock
Thames Valley Trial Head		January
Head of the River Race		March	Tideway
The Tideway Scullers Head		April	Tideway
The Vesta Scullers Head of River Race		November	Tideway
Tiffin Small Boats Head		October	Teddington Lock
Upper Thames Small Boats Head		October	Hambleden Lock
Vesta International Veterans Eights Head	Veteran	March	Tideway
Veteran Fours Head	Veteran	November	Tideway
Wallingford LD Sculls		October	Cleeve Lock
Walton Small Boats Head		December	Sunbury Lock
Weybridge Silver Sculls		October Sunbury Lock
Weybridge Veteran and Junior Head	Veteran	March	Sunbury Lock
Wingfield Sculls		October	Tideway	Putney
Womens Head	Ladies	March	Tideway

Other Events

Clubs

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

Major Clubs

Schools

Oxford Colleges

References

British Rowing Almanack (2006)