The 2025 Great River Race (GRR) at the weekend showcased a festival of rowing as racegoers praised the event’s organisation.
Spectators lined the banks of the Thames as the river was alive with boats and encouragement from the crowd.
The event finished at Ham House in Richmond where the participants were met with beer tents, street food, and a lot of worn-out rowers.
Joe Lane, who competed in his 27th GRR, said: “It’s without a doubt one of the best organised events in Europe. Safety is paramount.
“You feel safe when you’re on the river, it’s very reassuring.”
First held in 1988 with just 61 boats, rowers covered 21.6 miles and all 28 London bridges from Millwall to Richmond.
This year’s race saw 276 boats competing, while Northern Exposure Rescue provided assistance along the river route with volunteers helping make sure everything ran smoothly.
Teams came from all over, but Rachel Hedley’s team with the Purple Cutter Partnership – a six-oar waterman cutter – perhaps had the shortest distance to travel with their boat Emmeline 2 based at the AHOY centre in Poplar, just meters from the start line.
Hedley has competed for 10 years and arguably had the oldest team of the boat race, with an average age of over 60 and the oldest crew member being 72.
She said: “It’s really lovely to see so many boats from around the country descending on the capital and experiencing our wonderful river, which is such an incredible challenge and sometimes a very unused resource or underused resource.
“It’s been a fantastic event, every year the organisation goes up a notch.”
The boats had a tracker which allowed fans and participants to track them live as they ascended the River Thames, which proved to help with pacing.
Hedley said: “The tracker’s been very useful for me.
“It takes a lot of sweat out of it, whether or not you are timing it properly yourself.”
Others took to more traditional means.
Emma Pitt decided to follow her team for the entirety of the race cycling along the Thames path, taking photos and cheering on the 10-man team in a skerry called Caroline.
Tim Pitt, from Nottingham’s Bacon Boat Club, competed for a second time following a 50th birthday treat last year and had already made plans to come back for the 2026 event after claiming the Skerry trophy for the second year running.
This year saw a change of how the trophies would be kept over the next year. Previously winning teams would keep the trophy for the year but this year due to the hardships of getting the trophies back it saw the trophies being kept with the GRR trust.
Crewmate Dave Reynolds appeared to have agreed with the new rulings as their cup did the rounds.
Pitt said: “You can’t have it hidden in the toilet for the next nine months, then drink beer out of it.”
Next year’s Great River Race will take place on 12 September.
All pictures: Dicken Richards unless stated
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