History of the Twickenham Regatta
The Twickenham Regatta was founded as the Richmond and Twickenham Amateur Regatta in 1923. There had been ‘Twickenham’ regattas going back to the founding of Twickenham Rowing Club in 1860 but these were in the nature of invitational events.
In 1952 Richmond Regatta was founded to run a Coronation event and thereafter, Twickenham and Richmond regattas ran as separate events.
In its history, the course at Twickenham Regatta has varied in both direction and length. The current course is 850m long and runs upstream with the start line near Glovers Island and the finish line adjacent to Ham House Car Park.
Twickenham Regatta expects normally in excess of 100 races, and is supported both by local clubs and many further afield.
Racing is from stakeboats with pursuit umpire launches.
Twickenham Regatta is a friendly event and we pride ourselves on flexibility. The course is on a very picturesque part of the Thames (the view from Richmond Hill looking up the course is one of the very few views in the UK which is protected by an Act of Parliament).
Twickenham Regatta Trophies
Twickenham Regatta, established in 1923 as Richmond and Twickenham Regatta, has 13 trophies.
In 1953, Richmond Regatta separated and started a 'Coronation Regatta.' dividing the trophies between them.
Richmond also has 12 or 13 trophies, which were acquired when events differed from today's points-based system.
The trophies were acquired in the era when events were very different to today’s points-based
system. Broadly, the hierarchy of rowing events at the time had been as follows:
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Maiden or novice: The lowest category or for beginners
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Junior: Someone who had won a novice event. Novice could only be won once
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Junior Senior: Someone who had won Juniors or Junior Seniors. Only one Junior status event could be won. For much of the time, only three Junior Seniors could be won in a year and conventionally a maximum of 6 in a lifetime
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Senior: Someone who had won Seniors or a maximum of 6 Junior Seniors. Over the years there were variations around Seniors. Some regattas would have Senior or Thames Cup events and also ‘Grand’ events to indicate a higher level of senior rowing. When points were first introduced, ‘Elite’ was introduced to cover people who had won more than 12 status events.
Click on the images to reveal the trophy and cup names and brief histories.
