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Good advice if you intend to take part in the 4 1/4 mile Head of the River Race.
25 March 2025
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch watches a 99-year-old legacy.
The 2025 Head of the River Race (HoRR) took place over the Tideway Championship Course, Mortlake to Putney, on 22 March. With a 9.15am start, conditions were ideal for the 339 crews with mild temperatures, cloud cover, flat water and no wind. Remarkably, four hours after the race finished, West London was hit by a massive cloudburst, hail, and vicious thunder and lightning. Had this happened over the course a few hours earlier, the race would have to have been abandoned.
The great Steve Fairbairn is immortalised here on his monument sited exactly one mile from the Putney end of the Tideway Championship Course.
“Steve” had many dictums – notably that “milage makes champions.” Thus, when he founded the HoRR in 1926, he claimed that “it is not a race… merely a means of getting crews to do long rows.” The event survived and prospered but the idea of a non-race did not.
The top twenty finishers. The full results are here.The Pennant Winners. The numbers are their start positions.
Boating
The Furnivall pontoon at Hammersmith.
The single Oxford University BC entry (157) at Hammersmith. It was a development crew, not the provisional Blue or Isis reserve boat. They do not seem to be listed in the finish order.
Going afloat at Barn Elms.Two of Oxford Brookes’ eight crews boating from Barn Elms.Putney Embankment 1
Putney Embankment 2
Putney Embankment 3
At the finish
First placed Leander A (left) leading old rivals second placed Oxford Brookes A (right) near the finish by twelve seconds.Leander A’s time was 17.06.7 making them Head of the River and winning the Fairbairn Trophy.Brookes A came in second at 17.18.8.Thames A were third in a time of 17.25.0 which got them the Club Pennant the Tideway Club Vernon Trophy.Fourth was Leander B in a time of 17.28.5.Brookes B’s time of 17.35.8 got them fifth place.London’s comeback continues with their A crew getting sixth place in a time of 17.37.5. This was twelve seconds behind constant rivals and third placed Thames but it promises for an interesting summer between the two Putney neighbours. Here they are passing crew 6, Brookes C who finished 13th, 0.4 of a second behind their D crew.Thames D (left) finished 28th in 18.16.4. Cambridge University BC (right) started 23 but finished 7 with a time of 17.44.8 and won the Bernard Churcher Trophy.
The single CUBC entry was not the potential Blue Boat, it was the potential Goldie reserve crew, albeit with a sub (Matt Haywood) in at stroke. I think it is likely that last year’s winning Blue Boat stroke, Matt Edge, will have that seat on 13 April. For Cambridge to have a reserve crew get an excellent 7th pace in the Head is bad news for the Oxford men. The Oxford women had their bad news at the Women’s Head two weeks ago when Cambridge came third, only nine seconds behind winners Leander, one second behind second placed Thames.
Between Putney and Hammersmith
Racing and returning along the Putney Embankment.Passing London Rowing Club, Durham University C.University of Bristol B at Vesta Rowing Club.Nottingham University B (88) and City of Bristol Rowing Club C (86) pass Thames and Imperial College.At Barn Elms – City of Oxford Rowing Club B.You’re welcome.Selwyn College Boat Club A at the Steve Fairbairn memorial, the Mile Post.Visitors from Germany, Berliner Ruder-Club, in Fulham Reach.Left to right, Oxford Amateur Rowing Club A, City of Cambridge Rowing Club D, Clare Boat Club A and Kingston Rowing Club D at Harrods.At Hammersmith Bridge, sixty-percent of the race is done.City of Bristol Rowing Club G lead City of Cambridge Rowing Club E approaching Hammersmith Bridge.The race is over but for some there is still a long journey back to their boating point and then for visiting crews an even longer trip trailing back to their home club.Newcastle University Boat Club E land at Hammersmith, in the background the returning marshals’ launches mark the end of the race.
Looking back
A letter from Steve Fairbairn dated 27 August 1926, copies of which were sent to the captains of Metropolitan clubs suggesting that the “First Eights of the Clubs row over the Varsity Course.” His initial suggestion was for two such races a year, one in December and one around April, “to stimulate the winter’s rowing.” Picture: Auriol Kensington RC archive.
A recording of the livestream is available on YouTube.
Hear The Boat Sing 