Preamble
Every country has their premier head race – the United Kingdom has the Head of the River Races, America has the Head of the Charles Regatta and Australia has the Head of the Yarra. This year is the 62nd running of the eights-only 8km race upstream from the Melbourne CBD to the newly renovated Hawthorn Rowing Club landing stage. A highly anticipated event each year, the entry cap is always reached within hours of the entries opening. 2023 is no exception with a significant number of interstate crews alongside several international offerings. One notable aspect to this year’s entries is the distinct lack of Victorian school crews – with a fee of $552.00 per boat and the logistical problems at the end of the race (no access to the river until the completion of the event), many school directors have chosen not to enter. As a result, this year’s race is overwhelmingly dominated by masters and club crews, with a handful of school crews thrown in.
Having not run since 2019, Hawthorn Rowing Club will be looking forward to finally having Australia’s premier head race up and going again.
The course
A cox’s dream race – the Head of the Yarra provides a significant challenge for even the most experiences rudder operators. Against the stream, with 11 bridges to navigate and 19 bends, including the aptly-named “big bend”, the role of the cox has never been more critical to the success of the crew. Allegedly 8kms long, rowers and coxes have always had various GPS readings for the true length of the course, with some over and some under the nominal amount.
Boats begin with a four-abreast grid line up below the Henley judge’s box; two crews will have an ideal early line out of the stream for the first inside line, whilst two crews are faced with the immediate challenge of having to move across the stream and lose potentially valuable seconds right at the start of the event. Further to this early line complication, the river becomes bendier and narrower as the race progresses, so the onus is on crews to start hard and fast to try and haul in potentially slower crews in front of them. The nightmare scenario for any cox at HOY is to be within striking distance of a crew through the no-passing zone around Wallan Road Bridge. Crews must take the centre arch, which is only wide enough to permit one at a time. Videos are available on the Head of the Yarra website to assist coxes through both the no-passing zone and through the whole course.
Perhaps the most infamous aspect of the HOY course is the big bend. Taking place just before the halfway mark and starting the point at which the river begins to narrow and get twisty, this large meander features almost a full 180 degrees of turning. Melbourne clubs have been known to choose their boats and equipment carefully for this event, with some favouring custom-made rudders and others opting to choose the eight in the shed that steers the best, instead of the one that is the shiniest, newest and “fastest”. How crews get round this bend has a huge impact on their overall race. Strategies range from the aforementioned custom rudder to the standard pulling harder on bowside, to dropping out strokeside completely, or any combination of the above. Whatever choice you make can be the difference between 20 seconds quicker, or slower.
Other notable moments along the route include the narrow channel past Herring Island where the Melbourne Head course starts and the three 90-degree bends in a row – just before St Kevin’s landing, at Fairview Park and after the Wallen Road Bridge.
The Previews
Male School Eight Division 1
Holders: Scotch College VIC
There will be a new holder of the title of fastest schoolboy eight at the Head of the Yarra this year with crews from St Joeseph’s Gregory Terrace, Haileybury, Hutchins, The Cathedral School and Xavier College battling it out. Given results from the Melbourne Head, the title is likely to head out of state, with Joey’s looking like the most likely candidates to secure the win, especially given their performances at the 2022 NSW State Championships in schoolboy and year 10 eights. Having said that, the boys from Hutchins and The Cathedral School won’t have wanted to travel to Melbourne for nothing, so expect some fierce early speed and then for St Joseph’s to pull away from the field.
Male School Eight Division 2
Holders: Scotch College VIC
The battle between Xavier, Hutchins and Joey’s repeats itself again in division 2, however this time they’re joined by an ACT composite crew of Orana School and Daramalan Rowing Club. Composite crews are often capable of throwing a spanner into the works; however, the expectation again is the winner is likely to emerge from between St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace and Hutchins, with Joey’s again the favourites.
Male School Eight Division 3/Y10 Eight
Holders: Div 3: Newington
Year 10: Scotch College VIC
This division almost reads like an in-house contest for Xavier College crews, with two open division 3 crews and five year 10 crews entered. The open race will be won by one of their two boats; however, Hutchins will be seeking to spoil the party in the Year 10 event. Hutchins has a reputation for producing some strong oarsmen and Xavier college has produced some excellent Year 10 crews in recent seasons, so expect a potentially close race here.
Female School Eight Division 1
Holders: Sydney
When this event was last raced in 2019, nine crews competed. This year we are reduced to a two-horse race between The Cathedral School QLD and the University of Queensland. Whatever happens, the title will be heading up north, but the expectation is that it will be UQ who will take it out over The Cathedral School.
Female School Eight Division 2
Holders: Melbourne Girls Grammar School
Similarly, to Division 1, Division 2 is a 50/50 contest between the MLC girls from NSW and another Orana/Daramalan ACT composite crew with the title again heading out of state and north to either the ACT or NSW. This race is open for either school to grab the win.
Female School Eight Division 3/Y10 Eight
Holders: Div 3: Canberra Girls Grammar
Year 10: Daramalan
MLC will certainly be coming home with at least one win as they are uncontested in the Year 10 eights and there are no entries in the Division 3 category in comparison to 2019 which saw a total of 24 schoolgirl eights across all three divisions and eight entered in the Division 3/Year 10 race. The drop from 24 to five poses some questions as to why schoolgirl crews are no longer entering. The number of girls racing across Victoria and Australia remains extremely high – so the reasons must sit closer to home for the race organisers.
Female Composite Coxed Eight
Holders: Nil
Three boats will compete it out for the Female Composite Eight Title, a new event added into this regatta that allows composite crews to race in a non-open category level. These are ANU composite (a lightweight women’s crew featuring rowers from VIC, ACT and TAS), a Canberra crew and a Melbourne crew. With some talented names in the ANU crew, they enter the race as favourites.
Female C Grade Eight
Holders: Powerhouse Rowing Club
C grade is now the lowest level raced at Head of the Yarra and this year features twelve crews racing from Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The club eights tend to be hard fought races with often little to choose between the top crews. Expect to see strong performances from UTS, Adelaide Uni and Leichhardt.
Male C Grade Eight
Holders: University of Queensland
In the same vein as the female event, the male event features crews from Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. This event really is anybody’s race, and similarly to the female category will feature a new holder. Expect strong performances from Toowong and ANU. Finally, a brief mention both for the Australian Defence Force Crew – usually no shortage of fitness – and the Brisbane Grammarians Crew – great to see alumni getting together to relive the glory days.
Female B Grade Eight
Holders: Sydney University
The female B grade eight sees’ crews from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia competing for the win. With seven crews entered there should be no shortage of competition. Local Victorian hopes rest on the shoulders of Mercantile Ivers, whilst UTS, UQ and Adelaide will certainly provide a high level of interstate competition. Expect the winner to come from one of these four, with UTS slightly edging out the other three.
Male B Grade Eight
Holders: Toowong
Fifteen crews battle it out in the Male B grade eight, meaning an exciting grid start of four lines. All crews will be desperate to start well and secure a good line, with a high likelihood of early overtaking and potentially drama into Swan Street Bridge. Local hopes are again resting on Mercantile shoulders, fresh from their win in the Club Eight event at Melbourne Head, with 50% of that crew lining up here. Sydney, Adelaide Uni, UTS, Toowong and University of Queensland lead the most competitive interstate crews, with the Nick Blackman-stroked Adelaide Uni crew potentially the favourites to take out the category.
Female Open Eight
Holders: Melbourne University
The initial headline in the female open eight is the crew from Canterbury in New Zealand, featuring Shannon Cox, recently invited into the 2023 NZL summer training squad. Aside from the international entrant, the usual suspects from Melbourne University, Mercantile and Sydney are joined by crews from Adelaide Rowing Club and Adelaide University. Expect a fierce fight here, especially between Sydney and Melbourne Uni, however this is potentially one where the local coxing experience may just bring the edge Melbourne Uni need to take the win and retain their Female Open Eight title.
Male Open Eight
Holders: Sydney
A further 12 crews feature in the Male Open Eight, with two international entries from NZL: Canterbury and the Barbarians NZL crew. Unfortunately, the other Kiwi entrant, Tauranga has scratched from the racing this weekend.
Domestically there are entrants from NSW, SA, QLD, TAS and Victoria, with strong crews from UTS, Kand, Sydney, Melbourne University and Mercantile. All these crews feature Australian underage team representatives, but perhaps the standout is the Sydney crew, featuring Olsson and Crouch, both members of the previous Sydney crew to win in 2019. Expect some exciting racing across the board, with Sydney still slight favourites to win from Melbourne University.
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