Autumn Regattas Set Records in Popularity
The three largest autumn regattas, the Heads of the Charles, Schuylkill, and Hooch, all saw record entries this fall, showing continued growth since the return to racing and rowing travel after the Covid pandemic.
“Our numbers were the highest ever, and we are now probably the second-largest regatta in the U.S.,” said Head of the Schuylkill’s Ellen Carver. “We had 2,331 boats from 281 teams from 29 states and 10 countries.”
The Head of the Hooch, which can also lay claim to being the second-largest regatta in the U.S., and perhaps the world, saw about 2,200 boats race down the Tennessee River, with another couple hundred waitlisted because of limits on how many boats can get to the start and turn to race down the course safely and effectively in the time and space available.
Head of the Schuylkill organizers had to close registration immediately after the Oct. 6 deadline after reaching the maximum number of boats they could accommodate.
The growth is driven by demand for racing opportunities. An increasing number of public high schools have competitive rowing programs. Collegiate club rowing, a student activity rather than a varsity program managed by the athletic department, has also been growing in popularity.
“We probably turned away more than 200 boats,” Carver said. “We’re thinking about the race schedule for next year as there is still some room on Saturday.”
Expanding racing to another day has worked for the Head of the Charles, which turns away hundreds, if not thousands, of entries every year. Masters scullers now race on Friday at the Charles, allowing more time on the weekend for student crews.
The biggest three head races aren’t the only ones seeing record growth. The Head of the South, held the weekend following the Hooch, in Augusta, Georgia, had 233 entries 20 years ago. This year, it attracted 455 entries, a 14-percent increase over last year’s 398 entries.
Head races aren’t the only ones adding race days. Henley Royal Regatta has grown to a six-day regatta. It’s not without challenges, but has worked well, said Richard Phelps, chair of the regatta.
“We are aware that the volunteers are fatigued and we need to make sure we’re covering for that. But otherwise, the infrastructure is coping with it. The athletes enjoy it.”
And there’s probably no going back.
“If we told the competitors, we’d have to cut the regatta by a sixth to fit it back into five days, I think you’d have a bit of a reaction,” said Phelps.
Numerous smaller regattas were canceled during Covid and seem to have ceased to exist since. Steve Lopez, head of the leading regatta registration service, RegattaCentral, has reported stagnation and even retraction of regattas overall. Events run at the expense of overextended volunteers without succession plans cease to exist when organizers reach the end of their time and energy.
The big successful events thrive by making the quality of the regatta experience a priority and by partnering with entities and authorities outside the sport that can provide vital support and foster future growth.
“We tried to speak to all the coaches during the course of the weekend,” Carver said, “and received incredible compliments—from how well-organized and fun the regatta was to how great Philadelphia is. Some teams that were new to Philadelphia were pleasantly surprised.”
The regatta receives “wonderful support” from the City of Philadelphia and Fairmount Park, Carver continued, and a regatta of its scope and scale cannot be held successfully without it.
“It’s important that we recognize that none of us can do what we do without strong partnerships in our communities.”
“They’ve been wonderful,” said Head of the Hooch organizer Ulrich Lemcke of the City of Chattanooga, which provides police, public-works, and additional support through Outdoor Chattanooga, a division of the City of Chattanooga’s Parks and Outdoors Department.
“We have nothing but good things to say about these guys here. They go out of their way. It’s real Southern hospitality.”
Having to pay for those public services can break an event financially. Regattas held in Massachusetts pay triple time for police details on Sundays, time-and-a-half on Saturdays, and overtime after five o’clock on Fridays. EMTs, dive teams, and park-staff costs can be among a regatta’s biggest budgetary line items. Such expenses add up and contributed to the $750,000 loss the Head of the Charles suffered last year, and the expected doubling of that loss for 2024, Rowing News has learned.
Public-entity support, rather than invoices, keep regattas going. TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, created by Congress to provide electricity and flood control in the 1930s, is the largest public power company in the country and the title sponsor of the Head of the Hooch, which fits well with the TVA’s environmental goals.
Chattanooga Sports, a division of Chattanooga Tourism Company, also supports the regatta.
“We absolutely love it,” said Tim Morgan, of Chattanooga Sports. “And the Head of the Hooch has truly defined how a destination can utilize its waterways to drive economic development through sports tourism.”
In the case of the Head of the Hooch, that economic development means $8.5 million in local hotel, restaurant, and travel spending in one weekend. The need for more hotel rooms for competitors was the main driver of the regatta’s relocation from the Atlanta Olympics rowing site at Lake Lanier to Chattanooga, and more hotels are planned for the area immediately surrounding the riverfront-park regatta site.
“We want to do everything in our power to help them,” Morgan said, “to ensure that they have the resources to define success for this prestigious event that we love so much and that our community truly cherishes.”
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