Having reviewed conditions in Wallingford this afternoon, it is clear that currently ground and river conditions are nowhere close to us being able to run the event. With the current forecast, local knowledge, EA information, and necessarily prudent financial viewpoint, we have regrettably taken the decision to cancel the 2023 Wallingford Head of the River.
The main issue is the ground conditions within the trailer park, this is currently under some 300mm of standing water, and even if this were to clear, 10 days of good weather would not be enough to enable the ground to take circa 40 trailers and associated traffic. This coupled with the extremely high current river levels, high stream and predicted weather have unfortunately made this decision an easy one to make.
We look forwards to welcoming you to the Regatta in May next year.

With the current river & ground conditions, and in the light of other events being cancelled, we are reviewing the current situation and looking at what decisions we can take to mitigate any costs should the event have to be cancelled. We have always maintained a position of offering a 100% refund in the event of cancellation and believe this is an important principle. This does however mean we have to be prudent in the way we manage finances, to ensure the future of the events are secure. With the loss of half of the 2022 Winter Head, we took a loss in 2022 and as such have to be ever more prudent in 2023 to manage a sustainable level of reserves.

With this in mind, we are taking the following actions:

1. Whilst entries will open as normal, payments will not be enabled. We will notify you when payments are required.
2. We will hold off finalising our supply base until Friday 17^th November, this is the point at which we will begin to incur significant costs.
3. We will continue to review the forecast, river, and more importantly ground conditions, over the next week, and look to make an initial go/no go decision on Friday 17^th November.
4. If ground conditions in the trailer park are not greatly improved by the 17^th , experience across the events committee suggests it is highly unlikely to be manageable for the event.
5. We will post an update here on the evening of the 17^th at the latest.

A photo of the trailer park taken on 10 Nov 2023

Update 19:00 – 26th November 2022
River conditions continue to be rowable, with levels dropping slightly at Benson lock since 12noon today. We have successfully and safely moved boating rafts into position in Riverside meadow, and whilst space is more limited than normal, we are able to safely get crews afloat.

We will review conditions again first thing in the morning and are hopeful we will be able to hold the race tomorrow. Please do assess the conditions for yourself and complete your own risk assessments before boating; any crews withdrawing prior to boating will be given a full refund.

For those asking when the “cut off” for a decision will be, we will continue to try and hold the event whilst the river and conditions are safe to do so, however if this changes at any point before crews have boated, we may still have to cancel the event, there is therefore a risk that this may happen very late in the day. If you are not prepared to take that risk, please do not travel; if you travel and we have to cancel very late, please respect the decision, and be kind to all the volunteers on the day. We are all doing our best to hold a safe event.

Ben Townsend
Event Chairman.

Update: 11:45 – 26th November 2022

River conditions this morning continue to be rowable, and therefore we are still looking to go ahead. There are still risks to this, some within our control some not.

1) Boating Rafts – we will not be able to position the rafts as we normally do because of the river level – a team is looking to move the rafts, and re-configure this afternoon to enable people to safely boat; this may lead to a further reduction is crews being able to race if we cannot get the full rafts our, or a cancellation if we cannot get any out. We will not know this until about 18:00 today.
2) River Hazards – the main hazards on the stretch are the Town Bridge, the S Bends, The Gut and Island, and the Brunel Bridge. We may take a decision based on conditions to reduce the length of the course to remove these hazards from the race. This would involve a short course with the start just upstream of the S Bends, and the finish in the normal place just downstream of OUBC. Marshalling would then be along the river between the S Bends and the Island, removing the need to navigate the Gut and the Brunel Bridge.
3) EA Boards – If the EA place the stretch on red bords, we will have no choice but to cancel the event.

We will refund any withdrawals if you risk assess the capability of your crew right up to the point of boating. You are the only people who can properly risk assess the experience and capability of your crews.

We are still hopeful that we get a race tomorrow, but please understand there is a risk that we have to make a late decision. We are all desperate to put a race on, but if we cannot, for whatever reason, make it safe we will be left with no option but to cancel, and this may have to be done very late in the day. Right now, the river is rowable, so we cannot make the call to cancel.

Ben Townsend
Event Chairman.

19:30 – 25th November 2022

Following further review, river conditions are still considered safe to race. Whilst a number of crews have withdrawn, the numbers of crews racing is still too high for safely boat and get off the water in timely manner, due to the increased stream, and the proximity of the boating area to the bridge, which causes current disruptions. We are therefore making the following decisions.

1) All J15 crews will be withdrawn from the race, and full refunds given.
2) All J16 fours will be withdrawn from the race, and full refunds given.
3) All eights with a CRI of less than 10, and fours with a CRI of less than 5 will be withdrawn from the race, and full refunds given.
4) We would ask all clubs to urgently review entries, and risk assess individual crews based on experience and capability. If you feel the conditions will be too challenging, please withdraw (via scratching on BROE) ASAP, full refunds will be given.

A further assessment will be made at 9am tomorrow (26th November) morning.

Can we please remind all crews and coaches that we cannot risk assess your capability, this must be a decision taken by you. If you choose to boat crews that are not capable of coping with the conditions, you will increase the risk on all other competitors taking part. If any race official raises any concerns on the day about a crew’s competency, we will not hesitate in not allowing that crew to race.

Ben Townsend
Event Chairman.

Thank you for your entries – we are now oversubscribed have suspended entries now

Please see the entries page for details of how to contact Rachael. She is on holiday and does not have access to the telephone or email at the moment.

Temperatures on Race Day will be very low, and there will be waiting at the start.

Ensure you have warm kit to sit in while waiting for the start, to maintain a good body temperature.

We will try to alert you to take off kit before you race, but please be prepared.

Crews who are not dressed appropriately for the conditions will not be allowed to boat!

The start list has been published. We are aware of the current weather forecast and, whilst windy, are currently happy the event will be safe to run. It is going to be cold, and crews will be on the water for long periods. Please make sure that everyone is appropriately kitted out for the conditions on the day.

Before attending on Sunday, please follow the three simple steps detailed on this flyer. You have just under a week to get cleaned up!

To enable safer landing and boating between divisions, we have moved the start time for Division 2 from 13:30 to 14:00, the competitors instructions have been updated and also now include marshalling points.

Entries for Wallingford Head of River will open on BROE on Sunday 14th November at 18:00 and close when the event is fully subscribed or Thursday 18th November at 18:00

Entry fees are:

£120 per eight

£70 per four