Entries

Entries in the 2022 Fours Head are invited in Open and Women’s crews in Quad Sculls, Coxless Fours and Coxed Fours in the following four categories (24 events in total):

Please note that these categories will NOT be further subdivided into bands.

Definitions

CHAMPIONSHIP: Open to any crew (including composites)

Note: this event is NOT intended for junior crews of National Schools ‘championship’ standard. Junior crews should enter Sch/Jun.

SENIOR crews must enter Championship if they contain any crew members (excluding the cox) who have competed (in either rowing or sculling) within the last THREE years at any of the following events:

• The Olympic regatta.
• The World Rowing Championships.
• A World Cup regatta.
• The World Rowing Under-23 Championships.
• The World Rowing Junior Championships.
• The Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Races (Blue or Reserve races, but not Lightweight).
• A semi-final at Henley Royal Regatta in any event.
• A final of a Championship/Elite event at Henley Women’s Regatta.

Crews (including those eligible for Sch/Jun) may also choose to enter Championship if:

• Some or all of the crew were top 5 finishers in our race the last time it ran (2021) in an overall category e.g. Women’s Quads.
• The expected speed of the crew will make them competitive in Championship (against top senior crews).

If you choose to enter Championship (without being required to do so), please state in the Notes part of your entry on BROE2 WHY you believe it is safe and appropriate for the crew to go off with the fastest entries.

CLUB: Open to crews (including composites) that are not required to race in Championship and are not eligible for Academic or School/Junior.

ACADEMIC: Open to crews that are not required to race in Championship, and in which all of the rowers/scullers are current, full-time students at the same British or overseas academic institution. Composites are NOT permitted, with the exception that the cox may belong to a different club (academic or otherwise). Any crew of students not meeting the above criteria may enter Club. Crews which are eligible for Sch/Junior should enter that and not Academic.

SCHOOL/JUNIOR: Open to crews where all sculling/rowing members were born after 19 November 2003 and meet the requirements of the British Rowing Rules of Racing 4-3c. Composites are NOT permitted. Please note that under our conditions of entry all coxes must be J17 or older. Coxes of junior crews do not need to be junior themselves.

The Fours Head reserves the right to limit the total junior entries to a third of our overall entry and to a maximum of four crews per event per institution. This applies across the Sch/Jun and Championship events.

How to enter

• Entries will OPEN on British Rowing Online Entries (BROE2) at 8am on Monday, 17 October 2022. All entries must be made via BROE2.
• The official Close of Entries will be noon on Friday, 4 November 2022. No further entries may be made after this.
• Subject to host club boating capacity we expect to accept a maximum of 480 entries in total.
• Entries will be accepted as follows:
  a. Only complete (without placeholders), paid entries will be accepted (clubs are reminded that unlimited substitutions may be made until the Close of Entries).
  b. Up to 330 entries will be accepted in the order in which they meet the criteria above. Up to 110 of these may be Sch/Jun entries.
  c. A further 150 entries will be accepted by the Committee after the Close of Entries based on how those entries support the principles of the Fours Head (see points 1-4 below). Of these up to 50 may be Sch/Jun entries.
  1. Entries that help support the aspirations of the Fours Head (to be the pre-eminent Head Race for “fours”, providing safe and fair racing for competent Crews on the Championship Course); (see also Notes 2 and 3 ).
  2. Entries from host clubs on the Tideway who have historically supported the Fours Head.
  3. Entries from visiting clubs that help to minimise the number of visiting trailers (considering number of boats per trailer, use of trailer sharing, etc.) in order to help our host clubs.
  4. In the order in which they were made complete.

  Note 1: We reserve the right to limit the number of junior entries to no more than one third of the entry; in the event we are over-subscribed we additionally reserve the right to limit the number of junior entries per institution/club.
  Note 2: In line with our principles, we wish to attract high-standard crews who are competent to race on the Tideway in November. In practice this means we will prioritise entries from crews who are required to race in Championship events.
  Note 3: We reserve the right to reject entries from crews who would qualify as Masters C (or older) who may enter the Veteran Fours Head on the same weekend as our race.

• Any club entering more than one crew in any category must rank their crews by expected performance – please add this to the Crew Notes and do not rely on a simple “A”, “B”, “C” assignment. This ranking may be used if we have to reduce the numbers of crews racing after the close of entries (see Contingency for doing this below).
• The start order for crews in each event will be based on the crew CRI as at close of entries. Additionally we may review their club’s result in the same event the last time the race was run. Clubs should indicate on their entry where the crew CRI/prior results may not be representative and this will be considered.
• Entry fees (£75 per crew) should be made either via the Online Entry system, or by direct payment into our bank account (see event notes in Online Entry system for account details). Payment will be treated as being received when it shows in our bank account.
• Refunds: Entry fees will be fully refunded for crews that are withdrawn before the close of entries or that we do not accept. Entry fees will not be refunded for crews scratched after the close of entries or if the event is cancelled.
• Visiting crews must get permission to boat from a host club on the Tideway before entering.
• Owing to limited space for trailers, visiting clubs wishing to boat from Putney must get permission from us to do so BEFORE requesting boating permission from a Putney host club. Contact entries@fourshead.org to request Putney trailer access/confirm you will not be bringing a trailer to Putney on race day. Trailer/boating access will be granted (until the maximum is reached), if you meet at least one of the following criteria:
  1. Your trailer has at least five boats FOR OUR RACE on it.
  2. You are not bringing a trailer because you are borrowing boats from a Putney club.
  3. Your boats will have been left with a Putney club before race day and will be collected at a later date, so you will have no trailer on Putney Embankment on race day.
  4. Your boats are coming on someone else’s trailer who has already got Trailer Access Permission from us (give us the other club’s name).

  Additionally we can give provisional Trailer Access Permission for a trailer with fewer than five of your boats for our race, with a definite, credible commitment to give trailer space to other club/s you know.

Contingency for reducing number of entries

In the event that the number of entries needs to be reduced after the close of entries, whether due to forecast conditions (including weather and stream) or for any other reason, the following process will be followed.

1. The number of entries to be reduced will be agreed by the committee.
2. The club’s ranking of crews supported as necessary by crews’ CRI as at Close of Entries will be used as the basis for the reduction.
3. We will eliminate crews proportionately from each event, EXCEPT for the Championship events, starting with the lowest ranked crews and working up until the required number of crews have been identified for exclusion.
4. Clubs may propose an alternative crew from any of their entries if they feel exclusion of the alternate crew would better meet the Competition’s objectives of ensuring the most capable crews race.

Please note

• All crews in a particular event (e.g. Women’s Championship Quads) will be placed together in the start order. The six Championship events will start first.
• We have no categories for masters crews (although the Veteran Fours Head, which takes place the same weekend, does), coxed quads, mixed crews or J16 crews.

Conditions of entry

• The race is held under British Rowing’s Rules of Racing, Code of Conduct and Row Safe; the Instructions to Crews; and any other instructions issued by the Committee.
• In the event of a serious transgression either before, during or after the race (e.g. undeclared substitutions, unsafe behaviour, or behaviour deemed to be unsportsmanlike) the Committee may disqualify not just the crew involved but all crews from the Club it represents and refuse entries in future years.
• The Committee does not accept any liability for crews or their equipment.
• No crew or competitor may compete in more than one event.
• The committee reserves the right to reject crews entered if there is concern that a crew may cause danger to itself or others. All crew members entered should be capable of completing a ten mile outing and being on the water for up to three hours.
• All coxes must be J17 or older i.e. have been born on or before 31 August 2005. Younger coxes may be accepted if evidence of their competence and experience is sent to the Entries Secretary entries@fourshead.org.
• If a substitution made after the close of entries causes a crew in Club or Academic to meet the criteria for Championship, it will no longer be eligible to win the Club or Academic event although it will be eligible to win the Championship event.
• Crews given permission to race for Time Only will be given a time but will not be awarded a finish position in the published results.

How to make substitutions

All substitutions MUST be made at least 1 hour before the race starts. Any crew subsequently found to contain undeclared substitutes will be disqualified.

• Until the close of entries, you can make any number of substitutions in BROE2.
• Between the close of entries and an hour before the race starts, you can substitute up to 50% of the rowing/sculling members of the crew plus the cox in BROE2.
• If you cannot access BROE2 on race day, call the Entries Secretary on TBC (from 7am).
• If you need to substitute more than 50% of the rowers/scullers after the close of entries, you may request to race for Time Only. As it is not possible to make these subs on BROE2, contact the Entries Secretary on entries@fourshead.org.

Got a question?

Please contact the Entries Secretary entries@fourshead.org.