Archive - Tuesday, 18 May 2004


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Monmouth regatta expands

MONMOUTH Regatta is expanding to a two-day event this year as organisers look to cement its position as a major event on the rowing calendar.

The addition of an exciting sprint regatta on Saturday, May 29, comes as Monmouth Rowing Club celebrates its 75th anniversary.

And club members hope the two-day Monmouthshire Building Society-sponsored event will woo rowers back from London's leading regatta, the Metropolitan, which usurped the Wye regatta's date in the 1990s.

Monmouth Regatta moved to May Spring Bank Holiday Sunday in the early 1960s, and grew into Britain's biggest one-day event in the 1980s, once attracting 380 boats for the 1500m event.

Entries dropped to a more manageable 260 when the British National Schools' Championships also moved to Monmouth's date in the late 1980s, which still costs the event at least 20 entries from its own three rowing schools alone.

And it withstood the Met when it moved to Spring Bank Holiday and the Docklands course in London's East End.

But the capital event's switch in 2000 to the new six-lane Dorney Lake near Windsor - right on the doorstep of most London and Upper Thames clubs - was a big blow, made worse by Monmouth actually having to cancel that year because of foot and mouth disease.

Entries were down to 130 in 2001, but bounced back to 160 last year, and organisers hope the 2004 two-day May 29-30 format will prove a real winner with competitors.

The sprint date has been made possible by Worcester Regatta - traditionally the first of the three local Spring Bank Holiday events, ending with Hereford on Monday - switching to September.

Ahead of the event, regatta sponsorship organiser Ian Darlow is looking for traders, businesses and individuals to sponsor individual races or to advertise in the programme. He can be contacted at Farthings Surveyors on 01291 622000.