"Rowing is a growing sport", so the car stickers used to say, and one of the areas which has grown most in the last 30 years is the processional or 'Head' race. In 1973, the numbers rowing in the Head of the River Race and the Head Fours were respectively 317 and 145; by 1997, they were 402 and 550 and both events had for some time operated a top limit for entries. The same increase in numbers applied to the other processional races over the Championship course from Mortlake to Putney. What makes the 'Head' type of race so attractive, not only to British but also to overseas crews? It is probably because the format allows for every crew to compete, like against like; a Senior III crew can measure itself against all the other crews in the same category or by overtaking, or not being overtaken, by the other crews near it in the start order. No processional race is over until everyone has finished and times can be compared.
The processional race is very exciting for those involved but for umpires it can have its drawbacks. The nature of the race is such that umpire/observers cannot exert the same influence over crews as is the case in side by side racing. The most that the umpires can do is to watch events and make reports on what they see which - often to the surprise of many crews - does not square with their own views on an incident. The introduction of the bow-loader boat has - in my view - contributed significantly to some very peculiar steering, especially through bridges and round bends. The cox lying down in the bow often seems to forget that, while he/she may be taking the corner nicely, the 45 feet or so of following boat is not. I have observed on numerous occasions two or three boats abreast passing under Hammersmith Bridge with the outer crew screaming at those inside to give way when it must have been obvious to any sensible person that to do so would cause them to hit the buttress. Crews being overtaken must, in principle, give way to overtaking crews but the onus is also on the latter to allow room for them to do so.
Every crew which comes to lodge a protest after a processional race is absolutely convinced that the collision/obstruction/clash of blades, etc. lost them at least 30 seconds. In fact, it is usually only a matter of a few seconds but crews are notoriously bad judges of time in such circumstances. It is the invariable practice of the Chief Umpire for the HOR4s and other Head races to inform every crew making a protest that, should the protest be upheld, the offending crew can be penalised but in no circumstances can any time be restored to the protesting crew. This is because it is simply not possible to estimate correctly the amount of time lost. In general, when one considers the very large entries in Head races these days, the number of official protests is very small. The enormous entry for this event does, however, have considerable safety implications and during my time as Chief Umpire, penalties and disqualifications seem increasingly to be for infringements of rules governing behaviour during marshalling or after the finish, rather than for incidents during the race itself.
Reasons given for transgressions or protests are varied, ranging from "One of the safety boats sank a marshal's boat and we were laughing so much we didn't hear the other marshal" to "I wish to protest about Crew X which obstructed us from behind" or "The Tideway is rough and I wish to protest". Apart from suggesting that only coxes with eyes in the backs of their heads should be used and that the Tideway does have a tendency to get a little lively from time to time, there really isn't too much that the umpires or the organisers can do in these circumstances. All we can hope, however, is that the weather is fine for this year's race, that all coxes are awake and know their right hand from their left and that all crews, coxed or coxless, remember that there will be some 549 other crews on the river at the same time as themselves... and then a good time can be had by all.
Pauline Churcher
Chief Umpire 1998
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