The Skiff Championships Regatta is the premier skiff racing

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

in England. It is held annually at Henley on the Sunday of August Bank Holiday weekend.

Events and course

The regatta is run under the rules of the

Skiff Racing Association The Skiff Racing Association (SRA) is the governing body in the United Kingdom for the sport of skiff racing. The SRA is affiliated to British Rowing. The objectives of the SRA are :(a) To maintain the standard of sculling in skiff and kindred r ...

and there are five Championship events: *Gentlemen's Double Sculls for the Albany Challenge Cup *Gentlemen's Single Sculls for the Pulman Challenge Cup *Mixed Double Sculls for the Newman Challenge Cup *Ladies Double Sculls for the Ladies Double Challenge Cup *Ladies Single Sculls for the Beverley Challenge Cup There is also a full regatta programme for all other status levels The course is approximately 750 metres down stream, starting just downstream of

Henley Bridge Henley Bridge is a road bridge built in 1786 at Henley-on-Thames over the River Thames, between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The bridge has five elliptical stone arches, and links Hart Street in Henley with White Hill (designated the A4130) l ...

and finishing at the

Remenham Club The Remenham Club is a private members club near the village of Remenham on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames near Henley-on-Thames, on the reach of the river that plays host to the annual Henley Royal Regatta. It was formed in 1909 by ...

clubhouse, whence the regatta is organised. The

Upper Thames Rowing Club Upper Thames Rowing Club is an English rowing club. It has a large clubhouse at Remenham in Berkshire, on the River Thames near the town of Henley-on-Thames and is set back by its lawn frontage from the first half of the course of Henley Ro ...

facilities are also made available for the regatta. Many former champions have been rowers in Great Britain Olympic and National teams including

Penny Chuter Penelope Ann "Penny" Chuter OBE (born 28 July 1942) is a British former international sculler, rowing coach and rowing administrator. Chuter competed for Great Britain in the women's single scull event at the European Rowing Championships each y ...

who won 21 skiff championships and

Elise Laverick Elise Mary Sherwell ( Laverick, born 27 July 1975 in Rustington, West Sussex) is a British rower. She won bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the double scull with Sarah Winckless, and again at the 2008 Summer Olympics with Anna ...

History

The regatta was originally the Teddington Reach Regatta held at

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

, which was founded in 1892 as the Teddington Reach Aquatic Sports. At that time there were events for canoeing,

dongola racing Dongola racing is a popular event in traditional local regattas, especially on the River Thames in southern England and was first competed at Maidenhead in 1886. Competitors use wide punts and a team of (usually six) people with single-bladed ...

, tug-of-war in punts and swimming as well as the skiff racing. The Gentlemen's Double Sculls event at that regatta was nominated as the Championship of the Thames in 1897 and by 1906 the Gentlemen's Single Sculls, the Mixed Double Sculls and Ladies' Double Sculls were accorded Championship status. The Ladies' Single Sculls were introduced in 1957. The course was 1000 metres upstream from Teddington Lock to Steven's Eyot. In the 1970s the regatta enclosure at

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

became unavailable because of redevelopment. The last regatta was held at Teddington in 1972, and in 1974 it moved to its present site at Henley to become the Skiff Championships Regatta.G Dear ''One Hundred Years of Skiff Racing'' British Rowing Almanack 2001 Past and present Presidents of the regatta are *H Pullman *F S Lowe *J E Edgecombe *C W Wise *K E Foat *F J Rosewell ( –1974) *V A C Wood (1975–1992) *R F Thompson (1993–2002) *D W Gramolt (2003–2014) *D P Hudson (2015-2017) *D Taylor (2018- )

References

*British Rowing Almanack (All years) - Results

External links

The Skiff Racing Association

The Skiff Club, Teddington
Racing Regattas on the River Thames {{Rowing-stub

Events and course

History

See also

References

External links