After much discussion the organising committee is pleased to announced that two prizes, for fastest man and fastest woman, will be awarded.
Congratulations to Calvin Tarczy of
@SPSRowing
and Meghann Jackson of
@ThamesRC
And a special good luck to the Newton family who are all racing: mother and father (TSS) and both sons (SHP and LTU). Seems like that must be some sort of first to us.
A bracing 4 degrees but virtually no wind, so we're grateful for small mercies.
Good luck to all racing, officiating and otherwise volunteering tomorrow - keep warm before, during and after the race.
At 9am tomorrow, looking to be cold, sunny with an Easterly wind, raise a glass, although, maybe at that time just butter some toast, swig some tea and wonder at what might have been.
#backin2021
Numbers are delivered to non-Putney clubs, paperwork is printed, forecast is as good as can be expected.
All systems are go *
The clock is ticking to race day on Saturday ...
* at least we think so
If two in a boat at the
@pairshead
is one too many for you, confirmation that this year's Scullers Head will be at 10am, Saturday December 1, returning to its rightful ebb-tide direction.
In the light of the government's restrictions on outdoor organised sport, we are left we no choice but to cancel this year's event. The current lockdown situation makes running an event a few short days after the end of this lockdown impossible.
The race's organising committee has decided to offer Elite Lightweight for Open and Women. We appreciate that our original decision not to had not been universally appreciated.
We are planning to hold an event on the Putney side of Hammersmith Bridge on 5 December, but with COVID and the closure of Hammersmith Bridge combining to make conditions extremely tough for all rowers, it is not clear what sort of event we can run safely.
We're keeping as close an eye on the weather as you are. We're still far enough out that no forecast is particularly reliable. We are hoping that this front passes through and that wind drops though.
The issue would still have been safely marshalling the hundreds of scullers boating from Putney through the white horses that were there on Saturday morning. It isn't just about the course. It is about the forecasted strength and direction and its effect on all boats.
As a few of you noticed, the flow rate made dramatic differences to the times. For this reason, we do not intend to publish an overall listing of results as it would not be fair. The categories all raced together, so we can be confident of those orderings.
UPDATE. The race start is going to be delayed 30 minutes. The race will start at 1430. After the break in Tideway we're observing an abundance of caution with respect to the top of the tide.
The results have been updated: almost all times have remained the same, although a few lost scullers have been found and a couple of mistakes corrected. We appreciate your patience and understanding -
The draw will be published tomorrow evening (Tuesday). We're just polishing a few last details (checking on boating locations, clarifying some CRI issues, etc.)
We appreciate the work that the
@BritishRowing
team are doing and are sure you have all seen their announcement published today. We will wait for further updates and will make a decision on the event's feasibility this weekend:
Apologies for the delays in getting information about refunds out to our entrants. We have finalised most of our costs, we're now liaising with
@BritishRowing
to return 50% of the entry fee via BROE. We hope to have this sorted this week.
We are still deep in the paperwork around which categories we are offering and some riveting CRI based discussions. We hope to be able to get a provisional draw out to host clubs to check on boating permissions tonight, with a finalised draw on Tuesday.
The draw will be published tomorrow (Tuesday). For those playing along at home, there will be 4 PRI based Open bands, aiming at 20% in band 1, 35% in band 2, 30% in band 3, 15% in band 4. There will also be some manual sense checking based on status points.
Conditions are being monitored closely. At this time no decision has been made so you are safe to assume that the race is still ON.
Conditions are likely to be windy and wet even if the race runs as scheduled, you must be equipped accordingly.
The forecast for tomorrow is still claiming gusty and very wet conditions. Given this we have taken the hard decision to CALL OFF tomorrow's race.
Costs were still incurred. Competitors can expect a partial refund, we will be in touch very soon.
With the official closing date of Saturday approaching fast, we are within 100 entries of being full. While we have already received more entries than we can accommodate, over 100 have yet to pay. Your unpaid entry will not go into the draw.
32 entries are on the system but have not been accepted because they've either not been paid for or have not nominated a host club. The entries secretaries have been emailed several time this week.
#noexcuses
@flying_boatman
The terminological inexactitude stemming from the apparent ambiguity of our phrasing led to a divergence of opinions amongst some of our correspondents.
#yes
We are planning to hold an event on the Putney side of Hammersmith Bridge on 5 December, but with COVID and the closure of Hammersmith Bridge combining to make conditions extremely tough for all rowers, it is not clear what sort of event we can run safely.
With less than 48 hours to go before entries close, you've still got a chance to get your entry in to the first major head of the Tideway racing season.
Scullers Head entries close on Saturday at noon.
There will be a new set of results published soon. Most times are unchanged, but a handful of mis/un-identified boats (e.g. because of missing bow numbers or missed in mass finishes) will see some changes.
We share the disappointment that our potential entrants must have at this news, but we look forward to bringing the race back to the Tideway, hopefully over the full traditional course, in 2021.
@melharbour
@scullingstar
@alisonsculler
Don't worry, it wasn't taken badly. It had been taken as "holy moly, what have I done wrong, that's not right" and it had already removed been removed after someone else had emailed in a very similar vein ...
Entries are closed - although we are open for payments for entries already made. Unpaid entries will not be in the draw.
The draw needs to be checked, host clubs need to approve permission to boat, and any category aggregations need to be considered.
Start order has never been solely about PRI. Last year, in common with many races, we set off in category/band order, this is not the same as PRI order.
With the official closing date for entries 3 weeks away, we are filling up fast. You'll not be accepted unless your entry is completed (i.e. has a host club) and paid for. Unaccepted entries will not be in the draw!
@ScullersHead
I appreciate it is late to complain but it's my fault that no 163 ended up on the wrong side of the buoy because I obstructed her and she could not have corrected without hitting the red buoy