Great Leighs once had a lion's head over the outlet. In 2008, Great Leighs became home to the first new racecourse in 80 years, when the nearby Essex County Showground was converted into a state-of-the-art horse-racing venue. Great Leighs Racecourse held its first race meeting on 20 April 2008 and staged its first meeting fully open to the public from 28 to 29 May 2008. However, the course had its temporary licence revoked on 16 January 2009 and did not seen racing again unto 11 January 2015. Great Leighs Great Leighs is a village in the City of Chelmsford district of Essex,
The Great Race (rowing) the secondary school races, which has the top NZ school crews and girls) racing over a 3 km upstream course. The boys' race is traditionally between Hamilton Boys' High School and various other schools from around the Waikato and Auckland. The day culminates in the two international races – the Bryan Gould Cup (woman) and the Harry Mahon Trophy (men) – raced over the 4.2 km Great Race course. The event draws crowds of 20,000 + to the river banks in Hamilton and is covered by national radio and television. Spectator entertainment takes on a carnival atmosphere with corporate hosting,