On Saturday was the 'Head of the river race' on the Thames. The race is rowed annually each March from Mortlake to Putney (this is the opposite direction to the annual Oxford v Cambridge boat race). It is a 4 mile course with over 400 crews of eights taking part.
Outside the rowing club houses at Putney many of the boats were being prepared and launched to get them to the start.
This is one of the teams going under Barnes railway Bridge on their way to Mortlake.
Watching the boats going beneath the bridge I nearly jumped out of my skin when a train thundered over the bridge behind me!
Just beside the bridge were queues of boat crews waiting to get their boats onto the river.
The boats start one behind the other at 10 second intervals and the winner is the crew with the fastest time. The order is dictated by their time from last year so the previous years winner always starts first.
There was a delay starting the race this year as the tide turned about 20mins late. This is one of the first boats to go under Hammersmith Bridge.
All rowing in unison.
You can hardly see the boat here for all the water spray.
There is a cox at the rear of each boat calling out instructions to the crew and urging them on.
It was quite exciting watching these three boats battling away.
The legs and arms must becoming very painful at this point of the race.
The boats came very close to one another here as we heard a clash of oars.
I didn't realise until I got home that the race had been abandoned after about 75 boats had already finished. Although the water conditions were ok, gusting winds made the finishing marshalling area difficult for rowing and crews were struggling to cope beyond the finish. The decision was therefore taken to abandon the race
Here are some of the crews removing the boats from the water.
The water needs to be emptied before they lift it above their heads.
The one thing that struck me was the length of the boats as this was the first time I had been that close to them.
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Outside the rowing club houses at Putney many of the boats were being prepared and launched to get them to the start.
This is one of the teams going under Barnes railway Bridge on their way to Mortlake.
Just beside the bridge were queues of boat crews waiting to get their boats onto the river.
There was a delay starting the race this year as the tide turned about 20mins late. This is one of the first boats to go under Hammersmith Bridge.
There were crowds of people watching from the bridge.
You can hardly see the boat here for all the water spray.
There is a cox at the rear of each boat calling out instructions to the crew and urging them on.
The legs and arms must becoming very painful at this point of the race.
The boats came very close to one another here as we heard a clash of oars.
Sharing with
