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Head of the Charles Regatta

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Kennedy School women's team outside the Weld Boathouse preparing to row the Head of the Charles in 1996, though that year the race was cancelled due to bad weather.

The Head of the Charles Regatta is a rowing race held annually on the Charles River, which separates Boston, Massachusetts from Cambridge. With 7500 athletes, it is the largest 2-day rowing regatta in the world. The regatta is run by a small office and approximately 3000 volunteers annually.

The course is approximately three miles long. It begins at the Boston University boathouse in the Charles River Basin and finishes after the Eliot bridge and before Northeastern boathouse.

The competitive field includes individual and team competitors from colleges, high schools, and clubs from nearly all US states and various countries (2006 included rowers from China, South Africa, Croatia, and the Netherlands, to name a few). The age of athletes spans from 14 to 85 years old with experience levels from novice to Olympians. The last races of the regatta are generally the most prestigious; the Lightweight 8s, Championship 4s, and Championship 8s (both men and women). Championship sculling events (1x/single and 2x/double) race on Saturday afternoon. 

Additional features include:
  • a two-day music concert known as "Row-a-Palooza" & located at the Weeks Footbridge on the Cambridge shore,
  • Reunion Village, a cluster of protected tents where various alumni associations and clubs hold gatherings,
  • a pasta dinner for competitors' held the Friday beore the regatta,
  • and an intenational collegiate sprint race held Friday before the regatta and sponsored by Virgin Atlantic.

The regatta attracts up to 250,000 spectators over the two-day event. Spectators can arrive easily via the MBTA T to Harvard or Central Squares in Cambridge, which are both approximately a 10-minute walk to the river banks. There are multiple food vendors, HOCR clothes for sale, and freebies from sponsors along the river. The regatta is held each year on the third weekend of October; the 42nd Head of the Charles was held on October 21 and 22, 2006.


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