2010 TSS ROWING HANDBOOK - The Southport School

WHY “HEAD OF THE RIVER”?
Instead, the 'Head' is meant in the sense of 'at the head of a procession on the river'.
Because England's rivers are narrow and sinuous, crews, two or more abreast, presented problems,
particularly in Oxford and Cambridge.
Collisions and 'bumps' were inevitable!
Even today, coxswains on the River Cam are required to shout "permission to overtake, Sir" when
approaching another crew from the rear during training. However the universities came up with a
solution for their races. At the firing of the cannon they started crews off in a long row, each a
regulated distance apart. The idea was to row fast and 'bump' the crew ahead. These boats would
then swap positions for the next race. Eventually the fastest boat would reach the front of the queue
and be declared the "Head of the River".
Today, these races are held over four days twice a year in the Lent and Trinity terms.
The largest Head of the River race is held on the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney, the
same course as the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, but in reverse.
Four hundred and twenty Eights compete in this annual event but the aim is not to bump a crew but
cover the course in the fastest time. Crews are started at five second intervals but with so many
boats competing collisions are inevitable.
“When we gather for the happiest week in all the year, it is the
brotherhood of rowing, the comradeship of the oar that we
recall, when eight men who have trained until they have
become a single drive, a single trust of forward flashing
wrists, face suddenly the crisis towards which that selfless toil
has led them, and know that every link in all that pulsing
chain of flesh and blood rings true. For us, there are no
centuries or duck’s eggs, no goals or gallery kicks, no
individual distinctions where the crew are all in all . The rattle
of the riggers of the finish, the music of the tide, beneath her
body as she shot between the strokes, the grim yet heartening
sound of splendid and unbroken strength when all eight
blades crashed in together – these are the things that on one
who has heard and felt them will ever forget.
Some delirium. Some tremens. Some kaleidoscope.”
Sir Theodore Cook
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