Head Of The River Race

The Race Committee would like to thank all of the competitors, umpires, marshals, and other volunteers for making the Centenary race so special. Steve Fairbairn would have approved.

A note on weather and conditions

The Race Committee is aware of discussion around the weather forecast for tomorrow, and we want to reassure competitors that we are actively monitoring conditions on the Thames.

Safety is our primary concern. We are following the forecast closely. There are forecast gusts which may affect the course between Barnes and Chiswick Ait, creating rough conditions.

We ask all crews to take responsibility for assessing their own competence and readiness, and to contact us with any questions.

Please be aware that crews in later divisions may be on the water for a considerable length of time. Wind chill will be severe, and competitors are advised to dress appropriately for the weather.

We will share further updates this evening and tomorrow morning as required.

Our race day livestream is back for the centenary year!

and .rowing will be bringing you all the action live on our YouTube channel this Saturday, and we're looking for crews to get involved.

📣 Fill out this form to get a shoutout: forms.gle/yeusyqTKSC8oF9XL8

📹 If your cox is up for wearing a cox cam and streaming live from your boat on race day, email us at [email protected]

🚣 We’re looking for training footage to include in the livestream. Share clips of your race prep via WeTransfer or Dropbox to [email protected]

The pre-race briefing for coxes and overseas crews will take place this Friday, the 27th of March, at 7pm in Thames Rowing Club.

Hosted by the brilliant team from the Winning Cox, this will be an opportunity for crews and coxes who haven’t raced on the tideway before to learn how to stay safe and have a smooth run down the championship course on race day.

We strongly encourage all coxes who are new to the tideway to attend.

Full race information including instructions, rules and course maps are now available on our website.

The Official HoRR Livestream is back for 2026! We’ll be following all the action live on race day via our YouTube channel and we’re looking for crews who want to get involved.

To get a shout out from the commentary team on race day, you can share details about your crew via this link: https://forms.gle/yeusyqTKSC8oF9XL8

We’re also looking for clips of training in the build up to the race day which we can include in the livestream. These can be sent via Dropbox or WeTransfer to [email protected]. Please make sure you include your club name and start number so we know who’s who.

The provisional draw for the 2026 Head of the River Race is now available on our website: https://www.horr.co.uk/wordpress/draw/

Coaches and captains are advised to review the provisional draw and check Crew IDs before allocating numbers to ensure that crews race in the correct positions.

Entries for HoRR 2026 will be suspended this Friday, 6th of March, at 17:00 GMT.

This is the final deadline for new entries, and all entries must be paid in full by this date.

Entries will officially close on Friday the 13th of March at 17:00 GMT and full substitutions can be made up until this deadline.

The deadline for completing the HoRR Cox, Crew & Club information form is this Friday, 13th February, at 17:00 GMT.

For crews with a British Rowing crew ranking index (CRI) of less than 60, or where the cox is under 16 years of age, this information is required in order to assess the competence of the crew in navigating the Tideway.

You can find the link to the form here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBnKLo1Y5kcAWjpqxxG9N7NNG0ZcOD0tqEHIjgsf78uY7XGA/viewform

2026 sees the Head of the River Race celebrate our 100th anniversary.

Steve Fairbairn (1862-1938) founded the race in 1926 and keeps an eye on the race each year from the Mile Post. Fairbairn was a rower and influential rowing coach at Jesus College BC, Cambridge University BC, Thames RC and London RC in the early decades of the 20th century. Of the HoRR, Fairbairn claimed that “It is not a race, it is merely a means of getting crews to do long rows”.

To this day, crews from across the UK and around the world take to the 4¼ mile Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney on the River Thames, for their “long row”.

As well as being commemorated on the Mile Post, a bust of Steve Fairbairn features on the Fairbairn Trophy and the Fairbairn Medals, which are awarded to the Overall Winners each year. 

Have a good HoRR story to share? We’ll be sharing more on the race history over the course of this year. If you have a great club story about racing at HoRR, we’d love to include it. Please email us at [email protected].

Photo credit: Tim Koch

Entries for the Head of the River Race 2026 are now open.

Full entry instructions are on our website, with details of new categories, and useful information for overseas crews wishing to compete.

The Head of the River Race committee is delighted to announce that we will be celebrating the 100th edition of the race on Saturday, 28th March 2026.

Entry applications will open in due course, with full registration details to be shared on our website.