Head of the Charles
| Head of the Charles Regatta | |
|---|---|
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| Date | Penultimate Weekend of October |
| Location | Boston, MA |
| Event type | Head Race |
| Distance | 3 miles |
| Primary sponsor | BNY Mellon |
| Established | 1965 |
| Official site | www.hocr.org |
| Participants | 2,083 entries; 714 clubs |
The Head Of The Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October (i.e., on the Saturday that falls between the 17th and the 23rd of the month, and on the Sunday immediately afterwards) each year on the Charles River, which separates Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the largest 2-day regatta in the world, with 11,000 athletes rowing in over 1,900 boats in 61 events. It attracts tens of thousands of spectators during regatta weekend.
The last races of the Regatta are generally the most prestigious: Championship 4s, and Championship 8s (both men and women). Championship sculling events (1x/single and 2x/double) race on Saturday afternoon. The Championship events usually include U.S. National Team athletes, as well as national team athletes from other top rowing nations.
The competitive field includes individual and team competitors from colleges, high schools, and clubs from nearly all American states and various countries. The 2006 field included rowers from China, South Africa, Croatia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The age of athletes spans from 14 to 85 years old with experience levels from novice to Olympic. In 2007, approximately 10% of the field was international.
Regattas such as the Head of the Charles in Boston and the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia are to the rowing world what the New York Marathon and the Boston Marathon are to running.
The course is 3 miles (4,800 meters) long and stretches from the start at Boston University's DeWolfe Boathouse near the Charles River Basin to the finish just after the Eliot Bridge and before Northeastern University's Henderson Boathouse. The course is renowned for being challenging for crews to navigate without incident or penalty. The course contains 6 bridges, which appear in this order from the start:
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