Mar 10, 2025HTBS

The 85th WEHoRR: A New Milestone

IWD Graphic: World Rowing.

10 March 2025

By Tim Koch

By happy coincidence, International Women’s Day 2025, 8 March, was marked on the Thames Tideway in the most practical way possible with 2,480 oarswomen* competing over the Championship Course, Mortlake to Putney, in the world’s largest rowing race for women, the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR). As an added bonus, it was London’s warmest day of the year so far.

A press release noted:

Entries flooded in right from when they opened with a third of the places taken within the first week. The race reached capacity two weeks before close of entries which allowed the use of a waiting list for the first time. This is even earlier than last year’s record, setting a new milestone in the event’s history.

The top 25 finishers. The full results are here. 

Other pennant winners were: 31st University College Cork Rowing Club A – Overseas; 34th Nottingham Rowing Club A – Provincial Club; 48th Bath University Boat Club A – Challenge Academic; 50th Nottingham University Boat Club A – Challenge; 59th St Andrew Boat Club A – Provincial Medium Club; 85th Upper Thames Rowing Club C – Masters; 86th Derby Rowing Club – Small Club; 117th Edinburgh University Boat Club C – Beginner Academic; 153rd City of Cambridge Rowing Club C – Beginner.

Leander Club A started and finished first in a time of 18.41.9. Their winning performance was of little surprise as the crew contained current GB squad athletes including some veterans of the Paris Olympics. Picture: @penelope_layne.
Leander had four eights in the top eleven. It would have been the top six but for Leander B’s 10-second penalty for warming up in a marshalling area. Picture: @penelope_layne.
It was a great day for Thames with four of the six TRC crews finishing in the top 21. The A Crew (pictured) came second, eight seconds behind Leander A. Picture: Uncredited on the TRC Facebook Page.
The Thames B Crew (pictured) came 6th, and, remarkably, Thames C, E and D finished 19th, 20th and 21st respectively all within 3 seconds and demonstrating the squad’s strength in depth. Picture: TRC Instagram.
Continuing the remarkable theme, Cambridge A finished third, only 9 seconds behind the winning Leander crew and less than a second behind second placed Thames. The same crew is pictured here racing Leander in a Boat Race Fixture on 2 March. Picture: Mel Brown.

With such a performance, surely this will be the Cambridge boat that coach Paddy Ryan will put out to race Oxford on 13 April. Ryan has a leisurely 6 weeks to make them go even faster and perhaps his only problem will be to guard against complacency in this time. Cambridge will gain even more satisfaction having beaten Oxford Brookes by 11 seconds and the University of London by 26 seconds. Oxford were due to go off at 212 but did not start.

In other performances to note, there were 49 Junior/School crews entered with eight starting in the top fifty. Of the three highest finishing Juniors, Tideway Scullers (pictured) won the pennant finishing an impressive 24th overall while Headington School was 29th and Shiplake College 36th.
Although the crews from Fulham Reach Boat Club did not make the podium, FRBC is Head of the River when it comes to getting women and girls into rowing. It has recently established a Girls Only Junior Rowing Squad delivered by an all-female coaching team to help promote and support the growth of women in sport.
On the one hand, it was a great day, on the other – it hurt. Picture: @penelope_layne.

Pictures of all competing crews are available from Ben Rodford Photography and AllMarkOne.

AllMarkOne also has a recording of the race livestream on YouTube. 

*Plus 310 coxes, some of whom were men, the final number of boats that actually raced on the day.

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