Head of the River Race - Entry Survey 2002 - Detailed Responses

For Summary of Responses Click here

To all competing Clubs

YOUR VIEWS REQUESTED

The Committee was very surprised at the large entry for this year's Race ; the final total was some 57 crews over our limit of 420 . The expectation had been that there would only be a few over , given that the last time we were so close to Easter there was the first under-subscription since 1991 ; it appears that the "Redgrave effect" missed last year's Race (possibly/probably due to the floods & cancellations) and has now worked through . It is therefore likely that this year's numbers will be repeated in future , and we would like to hear your thoughts on the way forward.

Some background.

The limit of 420 crews was set some years ago by agreement with the PLA . This was in the expectation that there would be a drop-out rate of about 5% , so that about 400 race , which requires an acceptably short river closure time . We are not permitted to replace scratching crews as part of the agreement with the PLA.

The entry criteria were set some years ago , in an attempt to be fair to foreign clubs , good British crews and smaller British clubs . The first group given places (in late January) is made up of 65 foreign crews ; any foreign crew gaining a top-200 place the previous year may take up their place automatically again - all other foreign entrants then go into a draw for the remaining places. Typically, the two routes each account for about 50% of the foreign crews racing ; in recent years it has been normal for the total foreign entry to exceed their quota . The Committee believes that the number and quality of the foreign entries helps to make this a world-class event . All British clubs may enter as many crews as they like , up to the cut-off time - there are 355 places available (420 less 65). Clearly , an under-subscription means that all are accepted . Otherwise , the procedure is as set out in this year's entry instructions :

"(a) the first 200 crews in the 2001 finishing order will be entitled to a place in the 2002 Race.
 (b) all bona fide ARA-affiliated Clubs who enter but have no place under (a) will be given one place.
(c) should the total entry received exceed 420 , third and subsequent entries from school clubs will not be accepted . If the remaining entry still exceeds 420 all crews who finished below 200 in 2001 and are not entitled to a place under (b) will go into a draw for the remaining places up to a limit of 420.
If a Club loses a crew through the draw , that crew will be the highest-numbered one entered ....
The above procedure means that a Club entering a single crew will have it accepted automatically , provided the Entry Form and accompanying information are in order."

This was established in 1979 when the numbers first touched 419 . This offered what we still feel is a reasonable blend between encouraging good clubs and crews whilst keeping the event truly open to all levels of ability commensurate with safety. Since then , to keep things manageable , we have successively dropped Veteran and Junior prizes as other events have become well-established to cater for these crews , stopped allowing composite crews and - with the start of ARA registration - gone along with the thinking of our founder (who devised the Race as an event to train towards during the winter) and not permitted day tickets , so that only the more committed oarsman may compete.

The entries this year broke down as follows :

  The Draw - if one is necessary - is of course completely random . Up to this year , the highest number to be eliminated by this method was 41 in 1983 . If we are now entering a period of 40-60 more crews than we can accept , it is necessary to review and re-confirm - or amend - the selection arrangements . We would therefore be very grateful for your assistance with the attached questionnaire. It should not take you too long to complete, the envelope is pre-paid and every reply will be taken into account. Please circle or write-in responses where appropriate ; do feel free to make any constructive comments and/or suggestions; for all responses, your contact details will enable us to follow-up both your ideas and concerns. One word of warning ; some entry schemes will be more open to abuse than others , and may result in certain types of club gaining at the expense of others.

We hope that you enjoyed this year's Race, and look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew Ruddle
Hon. Secretary

1. How many crews did your club enter this year ?

2. If more than 1 , how many of these were accepted ?

Results:

Key :
2/2 = 2 entered & 2 accepted 2/1 = 2 entered & 1 accepted etc.
> 5 = all with more than 5 crews entered "red." = reduced

3. Over the last 3-4 years , how many crews has your club usually entered into HORR ? average : 1.76 crews

4. Are you in favour of the current closing-date system , or would you prefer "first come first served" [as the Fours HOR operates] ? (circle one)

5. Do you feel that the current limit on foreign crews (65) is about right ?

IF the current system were to stay ......

6. ...would you wish to modify the top-200 guarantee ?

7. ... would you wish to see the guarantee of one place to every club removed ?

8. .... would you wish to see a maximum number of entries from a single club ?

9. ... would you be in favour of excluding one or two statuses - say Novice , or Novice & S4 ?

10. ... would you go along with the idea of guaranteeing 100% acceptance of all entries made by Tideway host clubs ?

11. ... should scratching an entry in one year count against a club the following year in allocating places ?

12. It has been suggested that the draw for places could be structured , so that if a draw was necessary all clubs involved in the draw with 9 crews entered would automatically lose one , then all clubs with 8 crews entered lose one each , and so on down until only a fraction of those in the draw with (say) 3 crews entered had to lose one to make the numbers work out to 420 . The draw would then be held amongst this last group . For what it may be worth , if this system had been used this year , clubs in the draw with between 3 and 9 crews entered would all have lost one , and 7 of the 60 2-crew clubs would have been unlucky . Would you prefer this type of "cumulative" draw , or the traditional "all names in a hat" way ?

Questions 13 & 14, on the premise that the "first 420 entries" system was adopted, were not analysed as the Committee felt that the foregoing results indicated insufficient interest.

This page originated on 1 October 2002