25 July 2017

A reminder from Tim Koch.

Today, Tuesday, 25 July, is the 303rd Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race, starting at London Bridge at 11.30am. The weather forecast is for good conditions. My race preview and some suggested viewing spots for those who are free and in Central London are here.

A race report will follow on Wednesday, but here are a few other Doggett’s related items.

The £2.5 million MV Thomas Doggett was launched on 14 July by the Lord Mayor of London, Andrew Parmley, ‘to cope with the burgeoning demand for river trips’ and ‘named in memory of the founder of the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager’. Completed in The Netherlands last year, it has been built for sightseeing and can carry up to 528 passengers across two decks. The vessel will operate as part of the Thames River Services fleet calling at Westminster, St. Katharine’s and Greenwich Piers.

One of the few surviving decent local newspapers, The Henley Standard, recently posed a question that I did not know the answer to:

WHO has raced the most times at Henley Royal Regatta? Sir Steve Redgrave perhaps, or Sir Matthew Pinsent? No, the answer is not one of those multiple Olympic and world champions. It’s Chris Drury, from Remenham. From 1967 to 1996, he raced 85 times, winning 55 times and collecting the Thames Cup twice.

The Standard article is well worth reading and goes into the detail of Chris’s remarkable and long-lived rowing career – and also includes his winning the Doggett’s in 1975, apprenticed to his Waterman father.