150th Rowing of the APS Heads of the River

The 2017 APS Heads of the River will be the 150th rowing of the event that started when Scotch College challenged Melbourne Grammar School to a race held on the Yarra River on 18 June 1868. The following information is provided to former rowers on behalf of a committee of Scotch and Melbourne Grammar alumni formed to celebrate the 150th rowing of the Head of the River next year about our plans to celebrate this significant event in the history of Australian Rowing.

We are returning to the Yarra on 25 February 2017 to celebrate this milestone during the Australian Henley Regatta. In co-ordination with the Melbourne Amateur Rowing Association and Rowing Victoria, we will commemorate the first regatta and the history of APS Schools’ rowing dating back to 1868 by holding a historical row past. We will also create the new competitive event category for the regatta of Alumni Racing that will be open to all rowing schools and we hope will grow to be an important reunion opportunity in future years.

We invite and encourage your club’s participation in these events.

APS Schools Historical Row Past

As a display of the APS Schools’ rowing histories, we are inviting a crew of alumni to represent each school (ideally a mixed crew for the co-ed schools) to row over the Henley Course in a Historical Row Past. The crews will proceed down the course in the order in which they first rowed in the Head of the River, rowing in the class of boat in which they first represented their school in the Head of the River (ie. commencing with Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College crews in fixed-seat fours, concluding with Haileybury College in a modern racing eight.)

We encourage you to organise for these boats to be crewed by a range of alumni, with graduation years hopefully spanning several decades. We ask you to arrange with your school for boats to use for this event.

Rowing Victoria has asked that for insurance and liability purposes we ensure all participants are registered with Rowing Victoria by holding either a RV Temporary Recreational Membership or a RV 2016-17 Competitive Membership. Further details are below.

Alumni Races

We are also excited to announce the introduction of dedicated racing events for the Alumni of rowing schools in Eights for both men and women at the Australian Henley Regatta. Crews will race in the traditional Henley multi-round knockout format on the Yarra River over a distance of 500m.

Alumni men’s Open Eight (500m)

Alumni women’s Open Eight (500m)

Alumni men’s Masters Eight (500m, Average Graduation Pre-2000)

Alumni women’s Masters Eight (500m, Average Graduation Pre-2000)

We encourage you to liaise with your club members and crew as many boats as possible for the event. In recognising that many potential participants may not still be actively rowing, we have arranged with Rowing Victoria to facilitate RV Temporary Recreational Memberships that will allow non-RV registered competitors to compete in the event (as well as in the Historical Row Past.)

Entry for the Alumni races will be conducted through TryBooking, allowing participants to directly purchase their crew’s race entry and RV Temporary Recreational Memberships as required. As with the Row Past, we graciously ask that you liaise directly with your school to organise the use of boats as required for the event.

We hope that this will be a momentous day for all rowing schools where Old Boys and Old Girls can gather on the banks of the Yarra River to celebrate rowing by cheering on the Schoolboy and Schoolgirl crews in their Australian Henley races as well as partaking in the Historical Row Past and Alumni racing.

Cost
Type of Participant
$25.00pp
RV Registered Senior Competitive Member 2016-17 Rower (Alumni Races)
$40.00pp
Non RV Registered Rower (Alumni Races – inclusive of RV Temporary Recreational Membership)
$0.00pp
RV Registered Senior Competitive Member 2016-17 Cox (Races and/or Row Past)
$0.00pp
RV Registered Senior Competitive Member 2016-17 Rower (Row Past Only)
$15.00pp
Non RV Registered Cox (Races and/or Row Past – inclusive of RV Temporary Recreational Membership)
$15.00pp
Non RV Registered Rower (Row Past Only – RV Temporary Recreational Membership)