The 2008 Head of the River Race will take place on Saturday March 15 at 09:45 am ( confirmed )

The Race is ON  Updated 10:30 p.m. 8 February 2008

Should circumstances arise which might cause the race to be cancelled, this message will be updated regularily.

This information will only be updated again if there are any circumstances which give cause for concern

 

Bearing in mind the standard of watermanship in 2007 , all clubs are strongly recommended

to show coxes and crews the "Coxing a Tideway Head" video/DVD

well before the next Tideway event they enter .

As well as copies suitable for communal club-room viewing being available by post from the HORR Secretary, it can now be viewed online - there is a link on the Women's Head website ( www.wehorr.org )

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Safety

On the day of the race, and in the preceding days, there are a lot of crews using the Tideway, and for many of them they are on unfamiliar waters.  On Race Day there is a river closure from about 1 hour before the start of the race, and the normal rules are suspended, but they apply at all other times.   There is a very good map showing application of the rules of the river available on the Port of London WebSite, and it is considered essential that all crews should download it, and keep it with them.  The link is:

http://www.portoflondon.co.uk/display_fixedpage.cfm/id/910/site/maritime

There is also an article on the Thames Regional Rowing Council WebSite discussing various aspects of Safety around, and during, Head races on the Tideway.  This is also essential reading for all crews, coxes and coaches.  The link is:

http://safety.thames-rrc.org/tideway/hor-advice.html

The HORR Committee met on 24 April to review the 2007 Race .

The following will answer the questions that have been most asked since 31 March :

1. There will not be a refund of entry fees this year . Briefly , it was decided after the HORR cancellation in 2004 that any future refunds could only be made if it was i) affordable and ii) economic to do so . This year a full set of invoices has had to be paid in respect of time-keeping , safety , parking and so on with the result that the Race is expected to approximately break even . The maximum realistic refund could therefore only be about £ 1-2, and it would cost more than this to make some 250 payments .

2. There will , however , be an amnesty over lost numbers ; for 2007 only a lost number will not be charged for . This is solely in recognition of the wholly exceptional conditions that caused the loss of many more bow numbers than usual .

3. Those crews that were ready to race this year will mostly have a guaranteed place for HORR 2008 , should they choose to take it up . Further entries from those clubs affected will go into the draw . Full information will be published when OARA opens for entries in January

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Please note the TRRC on-line incident reporting system at

http://onlinerep.vorboss.net   (http://onlinerep.vorboss.net/)

Information is on the TRRC website here and the next page

The instructions for the conduct of the race are essential reading for Captains, Competitors and Coxswains.

The current version is that for 2008