Head of the Don

Sunday 2nd November 2025

Entries close at 3:00pm on Thursday 23rd October 2025

Draw will take place online at 3pm on Sunday 26th October 2025.

Held under British Rowing’s Rules of Racing and RowSafe.

British Rowing Day Ticket entries accepted 

Senior/Masters events: £12 per seat;

Junior events: £10 per seat.

All events are raced upstream on the River Don. We have changed the format this year and are now offering a shorter course of 2000m in each division for Beginner 4x+ and 4+, all junior 13-14 events and Junior 15 1x. All other events are to be raced over a 4000m course, boating from Hexthorpe Park, Doncaster, DN4 0HH. Easy access from A1, M1 and M18 & M62 with ample free parking.

Division 1: 10:00 am.    

Division 2: U19s approx. 11:30am    

Division 3: 2:30 pm.

With the exception of U19 events, there are NO restrictions in regard to divisions allowing racing across both divisions, ALL times will be combined and NO allowance will be made for any change in conditions. Events are offered in the following categories for Open, Women, Mixed and Junior. Short course events are highlighted in yellow.

*The Head is one of the GB Rowing Team U19 Autumn Benchmarking Events and results for eligible U19 Trialists will be provided to the GB Rowing Team U19 Programme.

Beginner Crews to have a total CRI of 10 or less, they must have an experienced cox.

Tankards will be awarded to the fastest 4000m Open and Women’s crew in the Junior, Senior, and Master’s category. Medals will be awarded to all other winners. At least 2 entries from 2 different cubs are required to form an event. The fastest crew overall will be presented with the Head of The Don Trophy.

Entries

Entries to be made through the BROE2 system. Entry may be suspended early in one or more divisions should they exceed capacity. Payments to be paid online via BROE2, only paid crews will be entered into the draw.

NOTE: In accordance with the British Rowing Rules of Racing, events may be banded at the time of the draw, using current ranking index or, in the case of Master rowers, the crew age category(s). Master’s categories will be combined to provide competition if necessary.

Entries Secretary: Helen Pogmore. Tel: 07828596028   E-mail: headofthedon@gmail.com

Event Secretary: Carol McGlone.  Tel: 07752270636   E-mail: carol.mcglone@hotmail.co.uk

Further information, including the Safety Plan, Competitor Instructions, Directions and The Draw will be posted on the Doncaster Rowing Club website: https://www.doncasterrowingclub.com/events/head-of-the-don 

Conditions of Entry

The Race is open to all club and composite crews and is held under British Rowing Rules of Racing.

This is a demanding event and crews and their coxswains must be sufficiently competent to race.  Anyone whom the marshals consider to not be competent will not be allowed to race.

All competitors must ensure that they have and are wearing adequate, warm clothing and should take these with them in the boat for the waits at the start and finish.  Competitors whom the marshals deem to be inadequately dressed will not be allowed to boat.

Clubs must ensure that all boats entered in the race have sufficient buoyancy to ensure all crew members are adequately protected in the event of either a swamping or capsizing of the boat.

The draw will take place online on Sunday, 26th October 2025 and will be published on the Doncaster Rowing Club website: https://www.doncasterrowingclub.com/events/head-of-the-don

A minimum of two entries from two different clubs are required to form an event. If insufficient entries are received, the entries will be placed in the next status or age group for the class of boat unless an alternative is clearly stated. Please use the comments facility on BROE2 to flag up if a change of status is a possibility. The Entries Secretary will endeavour to contact club secretaries and to resolve any difficulties. Please provide contact phone numbers for daytime and evening for this purpose.

All Entries must be paid by the date of the draw, any entries paid but not accepted into the draw will be refunded in full. Entry fees are not refundable once the draw is published. Should it be necessary to cancel the event in whole or in part, the Organising Committee will consider the refund of Entry Fees minus any non-recoverable expenses. We will make every effort to ensure that any doubling-up has been catered for, but it is the competitors’ responsibility to be at the start on time.

Competitors must provide their own boats and blades.

Clubs are reminded that it is their responsibility to insure their equipment.

Coxes requiring dead weights must bring their own, clearly identifiable, weights.  Coxes will not be weighed before their race.  However, the weight of coxes of winning crews may be checked after the race.

Racing licence presentation may be requested prior to racing, crew substitution, or prize giving.

Every effort shall be made to accommodate Adaptive entries. Please contact the Entries Secretary for specific requirements.

The Organising Committee reserves the right to alter the list of entries after publication. Every reasonable effort shall be made to ensure all entries are able to race.

Entrants for Junior events should indicate if they are NOT willing to be moved to a Senior Category if there are insufficient entries in their nominated Junior event.

Prize giving will take place after all racing is finished, although any early winners may collect their prizes from Race Control before then.

Further instructions and directions will be issued to competitors separately and will be posted onto the web site. https://www.doncasterrowingclub.com/events/head-of-the-don