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 many other regattas and long distance events take place on the river. Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire 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 Albert Dock. Rowing, or sculling, includes skiffing, dinghy racing and cutter racing in which the boats are also propelled by blades.

Rowing in winter on The Isis

Regattas[edit]

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	Direction	Distance
Barnes and Mortlake Regatta		June	Tideway			1000 m
Borne at Chiswick Bridge		May	Tideway			1000 m
Burway Junior Regatta	Junior	July	Chertsey Lock		Down	600 m
Chertsey Regatta	Skiffing	July	Shepperton Lock	Dumsey Meadow	Down	500 m
Chiswick Regatta		April or May	Tideway			1000 m
Egham Regatta		June	Bell Weir Lock	Bell Weir	Up	650 m
Goring and Streatley Regatta		July	Cleeve Lock		Down	500 m
Hammersmith Regatta		April	Tideway (Crab Tree/Chiswick Reach)	Fulham football ground (flood tide)/ Lep wharf (ebb tide)		1400 m
Hampton Court and Dittons Regatta	Skiffing	July	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Down	650 m
Henley Royal Regatta		July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	2112 m
Henley Town and Visitors Regatta		July or August	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1000 m
Henley Veterans Regatta	Veterans	July	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1000 m
Henley Women's Regatta	Ladies	June	Hambleden Lock	Temple Island	Up	1500 m
Kingston Regatta		July	Teddington Lock	Raven's Ait	Down	1000 m
Maidenhead Regatta		August	Bray Lock	Maidenhead Railway Bridge	Up	500 m
Maidenhead Junior Regatta	Junior	May	Bray Lock	Maidenhead Railway Bridge	Up	500 m
Marlow Regatta		June	Dorney Lake		Still	2000 m
Marlow Spring Regatta		May	Marlow Lock		Down	950 m
Marlow Town Regatta		June	Marlow Lock		Down	900 m
Metropolitan Regatta		May/ June	Dorney Lake		Still	2000 m
Molesey Regatta		July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot	Down	850 m
Molesey Junior Regatta	Junior	July	Molesey Lock	Platts Eyot	Down	500 m
Oxford City Royal Regatta		August	Iffley Lock		Down	1000 m
Oxford City Sprint Regatta		August	Iffley Lock		Down	500 m
Putney Town Regatta		May	Tideway Fulham Reach			1200 m
Reading Amateur Regatta		June	Caversham Lock	St Mary's Island	Down	1500 m
Reading Town Regatta		June	Thames Valley Park		Up	800 m
Richmond Regatta		June	Tideway (Horse Reach)	Downstream end of Eel Pie Island	Down	1250 m
Skiff Championships Regatta	Skiffing	August	Hambleden Lock	Henley on Thames	Down	750 m
Sonning Regatta	General	May	Sonning Lock
Staines Regatta		July	Penton Hook Lock		Down	500 m
Sunbury Amateur Regatta	General	August	Molesey Lock	Sunbury Court Island	Up	650 m
Thames Ditton Regatta		May	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Up	1050 m
Thames Valley Park Regatta		June	Sonning Lock		Up	500 m
Twickenham Regatta		May	Tideway (Horse Reach)	Downstream end of Eel Pie Island		1250 m
Wallingford Regatta		May	Dorney Lake		Still	2000 m
Walton and Weybridge Regatta		June	Sunbury Lock	Walton Bridge	Down	1000 m
Walton Reach Regatta	Skiffing	August	Sunbury Lock	Walton on Thames	Down	600 m
Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta	General	August	Marsh Lock	Shiplake Railway Bridge	Down	400 m
Weybridge Ladies Regatta	Ladies	June	Sunbury Lock		Up	900 m
Wraysbury and Old Windsor Regatta	Skiffing	July	Bell Weir Lock	Hythe End	Down	500 m

"General" refers to a mix of skiffing, cutters, dinghies and other rowed craft.

Head of River and Long Distance Events[edit]

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	Direction	Distance
Abingdon Head		April	Culham Lock		Up	2000 m
Burway Head		February	Chertsey Lock	M3 Bridge	Up	3000 m
Burway Small Boats Head		December	Chertsey Lock	M3 Bridge	Up	3000 m
Eights Week	University of Oxford	May	Iffley Lock		Up
Greenwich Head		February	Tideway	Wapping Pier	Up	3 miles
Hammersmith Head		March	Tideway	Chiswick Bridge	Down	2¾ miles
Hammersmith Women's Head	Ladies		Tideway
Hampton Fours and Eights Head	Junior	January	Molesey Lock		Down	3000 m
Head of the River Fours		November	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Head of the River Race		March	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Henley Fours and Eights Head		February	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000 m
Henley Junior Head	Junior	February	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000 m
Henley Sculls Head		November	Hambleden Lock		Up	3000 m
Isis Sculls		September	Iffley Lock		Up	1800 m
Kingston Head		March	Teddington Lock	River Mole	Down	5200 m
Kingston Small Boats Head		November	Teddington Lock	Dittons Skiff and Punting Club	Down	5000 m
Marlow LD Sculls		November	Cookham Lock	Cookham Bridge	Up	2400/4800 m
Molesey Veteran Head	Veteran	February	Molesey Lock		Down	3000 m
Oxford City Bumping Races		April	Iffley Lock
Pangbourne Junior Sculls	Junior	November	Whitchurch Lock	Child Beale Park	Down	3000 m
Pairs Head of River		October	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Reading Small Boats Head		October	Caversham Lock	1000m downstream of Roebuck Hotel	Down	3300 m
Reading University Head of the River		February/March	Caversham Lock	The Roebuck Hotel, Tilehurst	Down	4500 m
Schools' Head of the River Race	Junior	March	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Teddington Small Boats Head		November	Teddington Lock	Dittons Skiff and Punting Club	Down	5000 m
Thames Valley Trial Head		January	Dorney Lake
Torpids	University of Oxford	March	Iffley Lock		Up
Tideway Scullers Head		April	Tideway
Tiffin Small Boats Head		October	Teddington Lock		Down	5300 m
Upper Thames Small Boats Head		October	Hambleden Lock		Up	3500 m
Vesta Veterans International Eights Head of the River Race	Veteran	March	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Vesta Scullers Head of River Race		November/ December	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Veteran Fours Head	Veteran	November	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6800 m
Wallingford LD Sculls		October	Cleeve Lock	Moulsford Railway Bridge	Up	4000 m
Walton Small Boats Head		December	Sunbury Lock		Down	3000 m
Weybridge Silver Sculls		October	Sunbury Lock		Up	3300 m
Weybridge Winter Head		January	Sunbury Lock		Up	3000 m
Wingfield Sculls		October	Tideway	Putney	Up	6800 m
Women's Head	Ladies	March	Tideway	Championship Course	Either	6500 m