2,400 oarsmen and women to participate including internationals
The 53rd �Fuller's Head of the River Fours�, sponsored by Fullers, will take place on the 4¼ mile �Championship Course' from Mortlake to Putney on Saturday 3rd November.
The course is the reverse of the world famous Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Course. It is a processional race where all crews are timed over the course.
With 2400 people from 166 clubs competing in 540 crews, the 53rd Fuller's Head of the River Fours is one of the largest one day rowing races in the world.
As well as being the first chance for the Cambridge and Oxford (who race as Isis) 2008 boat race squads to flex their muscles against each other in public, the Fuller's HOR4s is one of the few races where GB international rowers are able to compete for their home clubs.
There are 20 different events being raced on the day, with everything from women's junior quadruple sculls to men's elite coxless fours. This variety ensures that as well as attracting many international level rowers, the race also caters for hundreds of school, university and club level rowers from across the UK and Europe, with competitors travelling from as far as New Zealand and Sweden to take part.
The action will last a couple of hours; spectating along the whole course is free and there are plenty of good vantage points from which to watch. Stalls selling refreshments and rowing related goods will be available from outside many of the local Tideway clubs, especially on Putney embankment and near Hammersmith Bridge .
Spectators on the day will have plenty of quality crews to watch, as most members of the 2007 GB senior, Under 23 and junior international squads will be taking part.
The current course record holders are back to defend their 2006 win in men's Elite quadruple sculls. The crew from Tideway Scullers contains New Zealand World Champion, Mahé Drysdale, GB sculler Alan Campbell and Slovenian International Iztok Cop. Competing against them will be James Lindsay-Fynn, Paul Mattick and James Clarke, three of the current World Champions in lightweight fours. Lindsay-Fynn and Clarke race for London RC while Mattick races in a Wallingford crew.
The GB women's quad who won gold at the World championships will also be battling against each other for the chance to win women's Elite Quads: Annie Vernon and Kath Grainger race in a Marlow/Thames composite while Debbie Flood competes for Leander and Frances Houghton for the University of London
Finally, all four oarsmen from the GB Coxless Four can also be seen racing on Saturday. Pete Reed, Steve Williams and Alex Partridge race together as Leander in Elite Coxed Fours while Andy Triggs-Hodge strokes a Molesey crew in the same event.
| CLUB | LOCATION | NUMBER OF CREWS |
| LADY ELENOR HOLLES SCHOOL | Hampton | 3 |
| MOLESEY BOAT CLUB | Molesey | 14 |
| KINGSTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL | Kingston | 1 |
| KINGSTON ROWING CLUB | Kingston | 13 |
| TIFFIN SCHOOL | Kingston | 2 |
| WALBROOK | Teddington | 2 |
| TWICKENHAM ROWING CLUB | Twickenham | 6 |
| PUTNEY TOWN | Kew | 8 |
| BARNES BRIDGE LADIES | Chiswick | 3 |
| CYGNET ROWING CLUB | Chiswick | 4 |
| IMPERIAL COLLEGE MEDIC BOAT CLUB | Chiswick | 1 |
| MORTLAKE ANGLIAN & ALPHA BOAT CLUB | Chiswick | 8 |
| QUINTIN BOAT CLUB | Chiswick | 2 |
| THAMES TRADESMEN ROWING CLUB | Chiswick | 4 |
| TIDEWAY SCULLERS SCHOOL | Chiswick | 11 |
| UNIV OF LONDON BOAT CLUB | Chiswick | 5 |
| UNIV OF LONDON WOMEN'S BOAT CLUB | Chiswick | 4 |
| ST PAULS SCHOOL BOAT CLUB | Barnes | 4 |
| AURIOL KENSINGTON ROWING CLUB | Hammersmith | 5 |
| FURNIVALL SCULLING CLUB | Hammersmith | 5 |
| LATYMER UPPER | Hammersmith | 5 |
| SONS OF THAMES | Hammersmith | 4 |
| CRABTREE | Putney | 1 |
| ELIZABETHAN BC | Putney | 1 |
| HSBC RC | Putney | 1 |
| IMPERIAL COLL BC | Putney | 9 |
| KINGS COLL LONDON BC | Putney | 1 |
| KINGS COLL SCH | Putney | 2 |
| LONDON RC | Putney | 15 |
| PARR S PRIORY RC | Putney | 3 |
| THAMES RC | Putney | 20 |
| VESTA | Putney | 8 |
| WESTMINSTER SCH | Putney | 4 |
| LEA RC | Lea Valley | 6 |
| CURLEW | Greenwich | 3 |
| GLOBE | Greenwich | 1 |
| POPLAR BLACKWALL | Greenwich | 1 |
| ROYAL DOCKS | Newham | 2 |
October 23, 2007
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