The Christ Church Regatta may be cancelled due to dangerous river conditions. Recent heavy rainfalls led to extended periods when the river was out-of-bounds to rowers. As Christ Church Regatta is an event specifically for novices, lack of training on the water could also prevent rowers from gaining crucial experience before the event.
The Regatta is due to take place from Wednesday to Sunday of 7th Week. The river has been “red-flagged” since Sunday, although this term has seen the flag conditions change regularly. This has seriously disrupted training schedules.
A red flag, issued by the Oxford University Rowing Club, prohibits any crews from taking to the river. The flags relate to the speed of the river flow, based mainly on the number open at the Iffley and Hinksey Weirs.
Some rowers have also linked the high water levels to the construction of a dam at Otley Mill, claiming that the locks had to remain open to accomodate this development.
Tom Preston, Secretary of the St John’s Boat Club, told Cherwell, “the problem is that the ground around Oxford, and especially upstream, is saturated from a summer of rain. So any rain we do get quite rapidly pushes the water levels and the flag up. I think it’s too early to say whether it will be cancelled either way but any heavy rain will make it more likely.”
A statement by the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club urged Boat Clubs not to give up, saying. “With water levels on the Isis increasingly unpredictable it’s important to give your novices (and senior squads) as many chances to race as possible.
They added, ‘Don’t let the weather rob your freshers of any racing this term – in the past decade Christ Church has been wholly or partially cancelled on at least 4 occasions, while Nephthys Regatta has gone ahead in full every time.”
Joe Larvin, Captain of Boats at St John’s, told Cherwell “If Christ Church is cancelled that would be a real shame. John’s novices have replaced all the sessions they are missing on the water with ergs so have work just as hard, if not harder, then all the other years so they really deserve a chance to race.”
“The only positive is that hopefully lots of them won’t want to stop rowing after this term as they’ll want to get a taste of racing and take part in torpids. This will increase the competition for seats in M1 and M2 but I really do hope that they can get some form of racing this term.”
Former St John’s cox Will Todman, commented, “Competitions are the most exciting thing about rowing and if fewer people take it up as a result of this, then that is a real shame for Oxford rowing.”
