Women's Eights Head of the River Race

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. 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

Past winners

References

References

1. "WEHoRR Website".
2. [http://www.britishrowing.org/blog/womens-head-prizegiving British Rowing ''Women's Head Prizegiving''] {{webarchive. link. (26 June 2010)
3. "Results - Women's Eights Head of the River Race".
4. "Women's Head of the River Race 1993 results".
5. "Women's Head of the River Race 1995 results".
6. "Women's Head of the River Race 1996 results".
7. "Women's Head of the River Race 1997 results".
8. "Women's Head of the River Race 1998 results".
9. "Women's Head of the River Race 1999 results".
10. "Women's Head of the River Race 2000 results".
11. "Women's Head of the River Race 2001 results".
12. "Women's Head of the River Race 2003 results".
13. "Women' Head of the River Race 2004 results".
14. "Women's Head of the River Race 2005 results".
15. "Women's Head of the River Race 2006 results".
16. "Women's Head of the River Race 2007 results".
17. "Women's Head of the River Race 2008 results".
18. "Women's Head of the River Race 2009 results".
19. "Women's Head of the River Race 2010 results".
20. "Women's Head of the River Race 2011 results".
21. "Women's Head of the River Race 2012 results".
22. "Women's Head of the River Race 2013 results".
23. "Women's Head of the River Race 2014 results".
24. "Women's Head of the River Race 2015 results".
25. "Women's Head of the River Race 2016 results".
26. "Women's Head of the River Race 2017 results".
27. "Women's Head of the River Race 2018 results".
28. "Women's Head of the River Race 2022 results".
29. "Women's Head of the River Race 2023 results".
30. "Women's Head of the River Race 2024 results".
31. "Women's Head of the River Race 2025 results".