Women's Eight Head of the River Race

The committee have been, as usual, monitoring both fluvial flows and weather forecasts for the run up to race day on Saturday. We are aware that there has been a large amount of rainfall so far this winter with both the Tidal and non-tidal Thames affected by strong flows.

At present, the PLA ebb flow flag is green, but it has been yellow in the past few days. When the flag is yellow, our safety rules mean that Junior 15 and beginner crews would be unable to race. We know how much this means to these crews and their clubs — please bear with us as we prioritise everyone’s safety on the water.

As in previous years, we will be keeping everyone informed by providing updates as we get closer to race day. Please keep watching our website and social media channels.

With just over two weeks’ to go to the close of entries on 19th February, we have reached the limit of 320 paid up crews, which is the earliest we have had this happen! We will be operating a waiting list, so if you have an entry which is unpaid, please pay as soon as possible.
Any entries that withdraw before the close of entries on the 19th will be fully refunded. Any entries on the waiting list that do not get a place will also be fully refunded.
Please note that the usual entry secretary email forwarding address is not working – a new email address to use is listed on the contacts page.

The list of Small and Medium Clubs and the Pennant documents have been updated for the 2026 race. There are very minor changes to the Pennant qualifying criteria, mostly these just clarify the rules in line with their previously intended outcomes.
Queries relating to the Small and Medium club lists should be submitted as soon as possible, and no later than the close of entries.