Head of the Charles Regatta

Head of the Charles Regatta
Date	Penultimate Weekend of October
Location	Boston, MA
Event type	Head Race
Distance	3 miles
Primary sponsor	BNY Mellon
Established	1965
Official site	www.hocr.org
Participants	2,083 entries; 714 clubs [1]

The Middlebury College rowing team in the 2007 Regatta.

Spectators lining the bank of the Charles River in 2003

2002

Queen's University Belfast, a crew from Northern Ireland, racing in the Head of the Charles in 2003

Kennedy School women's team outside the Weld Boathouse preparing to row the Head of the Charles in 1996, though that year the race was cancelled due to bad weather.

The Head Of The Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October (i.e., on the Saturday that falls between the 17th and the 23rd of the month, and on the Sunday immediately afterwards) each year on the Charles River, which separates Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the largest 2-day regatta in the world, with 11,000 athletes rowing in over 1,900 boats in 61 events. It attracts tens of thousands of spectators during regatta weekend.

The last races of the Regatta are generally the most prestigious: Championship 4s, and Championship 8s (both men and women). Championship sculling events (1x/single and 2x/double) race on Saturday afternoon. The Championship events usually include U.S. National Team athletes, as well as national team athletes from other top rowing nations.

The competitive field includes individual and team competitors from colleges, high schools, and clubs from nearly all American states and various countries. The 2006 field included rowers from China, South Africa, Croatia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The age of athletes spans from 14 to 85 years old with experience levels from novice to Olympic. In 2007, approximately 10% of the field was international.

Regattas such as the Head of the Charles in Boston and the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia are to the rowing world what the New York Marathon and the Boston Marathon are to running.

— Susan Saint Sing, The Eight: A Season in the Tradition of Harvard Crew^[2]

Course

The course is 3 miles (4,800 meters) long and stretches from the start at Boston University's DeWolfe Boathouse near the Charles River Basin to the finish just after the Eliot Bridge and before Northeastern University's Henderson Boathouse. The course is renowned for being challenging for crews to navigate without incident or penalty. The course contains 6 bridges, which appear in this order from the start:

• 
  Boston University/Grand Junction Railroad Bridges
• 
  River Street Bridge
• 
  Western Avenue Bridge
• 
  John W. Weeks Footbridge
• 
  Anderson Memorial Bridge
• 
  Eliot Bridge

The Weeks and Eliot Bridges fall at sharp turns in the course, and collisions occur here more than any other part of the course.

Racing regulations

Crews start the race at 15-second intervals. The starting order is based on the crew's finishing time in the previous year, with the top finisher from the prior year leaving first, the second finisher leaving second, and so on. Crews that did not compete in the prior year are seeded after all prior year entrants in a random order, although race organizers have some discretion in the seeding process. Having presumably faster crews start ahead of presumably slower crews reduces the amount of passing boats must make during the race, reducing the potential for boating accidents. However, passing almost always occurs, and penalties are imposed on crews that do not follow passing regulations, such as failing to yield to a boat that closes to within one boat length of open water.^[3]

History

The First Year

The Head of the Charles Regatta was first organized in 1965 by Cambridge Boat Club members D'Arcy MacMahon, Howard McIntyre, and Jack Vincent. The members of the boat club thought that a fall regatta would be an entertaining way to break up the monotony of the training season for colleges and boat clubs in the area. D'Arcy MacMahon had been the captain of the University of Pennsylvania's lightweight varsity three seasons earlier. They initially had little hope the regatta would be a success, it was the wrong time of year and it wasn't expected to draw any spectators.^[4]

Harvard University sculling instructor Ernest Arlett provided the idea for the head race. George Ernest Arlett came to the US because in England only "gentlemen" could race. Even when Arlett brought Northeastern University's rowing team to Henley Royal Regatta and the team members were invited, the team entered by the front door and Mr. Arlett still had to enter by the rear or servants door. Class snobbery or pedigree was still in force.

Despite their reservations, the founders of the regatta were determined to see it become a success. In an interview with New York Times, Jerry Olrich and MacMahon identified that this regatta was "destined to become a classic"^[5]

The Regatta expanded to a two-day event in 1997.

In 1991, Frederick V. Schoch was appointed Executive Director of the Regatta, and he continues to oversee the event.^[6]

Charity program

Since 1998, the Head of the Charles Regatta's Charity Program has generated over $1,000,000 for its official charities, which include Cambridge Community Foundation and Community Rowing, Inc. The Charity Program allows competitors to gain an automatic entry into the Regatta in exchange for raising $1250 per person, per entry. The official rules allow any single, double, four, or eight is eligible to enter.

Awards

First place medals are awarded to winning competitors in each event category of the race. The first place medals are struck bronze medallions that are 2.5 inches in diameter. They show a single sculler from above on the front, and are engraved with the year and event on the back. Only the first place medals are distributed at the Regatta on Saturday and Sunday evenings following the races. Medals for second and third place medallions are of the same design, but are 1.75 inches in diameter. The Regatta issues additional medals according to the number of entries in the race as well. For instance, in a race with 50 competitors, 5 medals are issued.

Special medals are issued to the most competitive Youth scullers; the most competitive Grand-Veteran scullers in the Senior-Veteran Singles Event; the fastest Veteran crews in the Senior-Master 2x, 4+, and 8+ events; the fastest Grand-Master crews in the Senior-Master 2x, 4+, and 8+ events; and the fastest collegiate crews in the Championship Fours and Eights events.

Course records

Notes

External links

• Head of the Charles Regatta
• Row2k Head of the Charles coverage
• Live Video Webcasts of the Head of the Charles Regatta on NESports.tv a division of Bullpen Media
• HOCR and The Rowing Channel

Coordinates: 42°21′45″N 71°7′1″W / 42.36250°N 71.11694°W / 42.36250; -71.11694