River Thames the stretch of river from Chiswick to Putney. Two rowing events on the River Thames are traditionally part of the wider English sporting calendar: The University Boat Race (between Oxford and Cambridge) takes place in late March or early April, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake in the west of London. Henley Royal Regatta takes place over five days at the start of July in the upstream town of Henley-on-Thames. Besides its sporting significance the regatta is an important date on the English social calendar alongside events like Royal Ascot and Wimbledon. Other significant or historic rowing events
Henley Royal Regatta with Rosie Clugston. The time taken to install the start equipment at Fawley combined with the relative lack of crowd interest meant that the Stewards took the decision not to repeat the experiment in 1983. The change of the international distance to 2000 m and the addition of a fifth day to the regatta in 1986 allowed the Committee of Management to revisit the decision. In 1993 the regatta introduced an open Women’s Single Sculls event and from 1993–6 this counted as a round of the FISA World Cup. The first winner was Maria Brandin of Sweden and she subsequently