Head of the River (Western Australia)

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The Head of the River rowing regatta is run by the Public Schools Association of Western Australia, and takes place on the Canning River (However, future events will be held at Champion Lakes, near Armadale). All seven member schools of the PSA send their crews to the race.

The race is held over 2000m and is the last official race of the PSA rowing season. From its origins in 1899 to 1938 the race was run in fours, but since 1938 it has been run in eights.

There are two trophies awarded; The challenge cup, which is awarded to the school who wins the First Eight race and the Hamer Cup which is awarded to the overall winner of the day on points.

Contents

[edit] Head of the River Regatta

[edit] History

The Perth race held in late summer/early autumn is contested between the seven Public Schools Association boys schools: Aquinas College, Christ Church Grammar School, Guildford Grammar School, Hale School, Scotch College, Trinity College, and Wesley College. In the winter several private Perth girls schools race for the title.

The regatta consists of many races with points contributing to the Hamer Cup, and in the final race of the day, the 1st VIII crews from each school compete for the Head of the River trophy. The race is run on the Canning River, near Western Australian Institute of Sport's rowing shed at Canning Bridge.

Rowing was one of the five original PSA Sports. Schools involved in the PSA Rowing compete for three trophies; The Challenge Cup, C.A. Hamer Cup and the Syme Cup.

On the final day of the rowing season, all PSA Schools attend the head of the river rowing regatta, the first VIII crew's from all of the schools compete for the Head Of The River title. The Challenge Cup pre-dates the formation of the PSA, having been presented 6 times by 1905. Until 1937 the Head of the River Race had been rowed in Fours, from 1938 it has been rowed in Eights.

[edit] 2008 Race

Christ Church Grammar School dominated the annual Head of the River Race by 7.3 seconds to their main rivals of Wesley. People considered Trinity to be a dominant force but most experts understood Wesley as the main competitors for a strong Christ Church outfit. Despite the torrential rain many supporters made the trip to barrack for their respective teams at the Canning Bridge course and all crewes raced extremely hard. Trinity won the Hamer Cup convincingly with wins in 4 out of the 5 Eights races. Unluckily, they didn't win the Prestigious Race of the 1st Eights which Christ Church won. They were the pre race favourites but only by a margin of 3 seconds on average so the field was close. Yet on the day, they proved too strong for all other competing crews and flew away after 1000 metres from Scotch who fell back to fourth. The Christ Church crew on the day was made up as follows: Alex McMillan (Bow), Tavis Harling (#2), Jonno Payne (#3), Felix Clarke (#4), Jasper Harding (#5), Alex Payne (#6), Brefny O'Shea (#7), Andrew Summerlin (Stroke) and Charlie Peters (Cox). The boat was coached by the WA rowing legend Mr. Laurie Anderson. CCGS Director of Rowing Mr. Steve Saunders who has now been responsible for 5 winning HoR campaigns at Christ Church.

Challenge Cup : 1st CCGS - 6.25.7, 2nd WC - 6.34, 3rd AC - 6.35, 4th SC - 6.37, 5th HS - 6.41.6, 6th TC - 6.42, 7th GGS

Hamer Cup : Who cares?

[edit] Previous Champions

NB: CBC closed to become Aquinas and Trinity College.


Victors By Year - Pre Trophy
Year Premiers
1899 Hale
1900 CBC
1901 Scotch
1902 Guildford
1903 Scotch
1904 Scotch
Victors By Year - Post Trophy
Year Premiers
1905 Hale
1906 Scotch
1907 Scotch
1908 Scotch
1909 CBC
1910 CBC
1911 CBC
1912 CBC
1913 Scotch
1914 Hale
1915 CBC
1916 CBC
1917 CBC
1918 Hale
1919 Hale
1920 Scotch
1921 CBC
1922 Hale
1923 CBC
1924 Guildford
1925 Hale
1926 CBC
1927 CBC
1928 CBC
1929 CBC
1930 CBC
1931 CBC
1932 Scotch
1933 Hale
1934 Scotch
1935 Scotch
1936 Scotch
1937 Scotch
1938 Scotch
1939 Hale
1940 Scotch
1941 Scotch
1942 [a]
1943 [a]
1944 Hale
1945 Hale
1946 Aquinas
1947 Hale
1948 Aquinas
1949 Aquinas
1950 Hale
1951 Hale
1952 Hale
1953 Hale
1954 Hale
1955 Hale
1956 Hale
1957 Scotch
1958 Christ Church
1959 Christ Church
1960 Scotch
1961 Christ Church
1962 Guildford
1963 Christ Church
1964 Christ Church
1965 Aquinas
1966 Aquinas
1967 Scotch
1968 Scotch
1969 Aquinas
1970 Aquinas
1971 Hale
1972 Aquinas
1973 Aquinas
1974 Aquinas
1975 Aquinas
1976 Aquinas
1977 Aquinas
1978 Scotch
1979 Christ Church
1980 Aquinas
1981 Christ Church
1982 Aquinas
1983 Hale
1984 Scotch
1985 Scotch
1986 Christ Church
1987 Aquinas
1988 Guildford
1989 Aquinas
1990 Scotch
1991 Hale
1992 Christ Church
1993 Guildford
1994 Aquinas
1995 Aquinas
1996 Trinity
1997 Aquinas
1998 Aquinas
1999 Trinity
2000 Hale
2001 Wesley
2002 Christ Church
2003 Christ Church
2004 Trinity
2005 Christ Church
2006 Christ Church
2007 Trinity
2008 Christ Church

[edit] WA Schoolgirl Head of the River

  • Overall Points Score
Year Winner 2nd 3rd
2005 Penrhos Perth College St Hilda's
2006 Perth College Penrhos St Hilda's
  • The 1st VIII
Year Winner 2nd 3rd
1999 St Hilda's PLC MLC
2000 St Hilda's Penrhos PLC
2001 MLC Perth College PLC
2002 MLC Penrhos PLC
2003 MLC
2004 MLC St Hilda's MLC
2005 Penrhos MLC Perth College
2006 MLC Penrhos Perth College
2007 Perth College PLC MLC

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links