2024 PSA Head of the River

The 2024 PSA Head of the River was held on 23 March and delivered all the fun we have come to expect from this regatta! A kaleidoscope of PSA colours swirled at the finish line barricade, as teammates, family, friends, alumni & coaches readied themselves to encourage, deafeningly, their respective schools' crews home to the line. The BBQ was ripping hot, the Umpires were in position, the Heads had been briefed - nothing left to do but race...

Photo: Kelvin Ha

The two major Championships on offer - the Challenge and Hamer Cups - are historic & prestigious. The Challenge Cup is presented to the winning First VIII on the day as it has been at every Head of the River since 1899. The Hamer Cup is presented to the Champion School - the program that performs the best across the whole Head of the River regatta. This trophy rewards the program who has strength across their whole team, and means that the school's performance is judged on the sum of it's parts.

Read the history of the PSA trophies here

Trinity College came into the regatta favourites for the Hamer Cup - off the back of a strong Regatta 5, and as returning Champions from the 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019 Seasons! They returned the trophy at the start of the regatta... and 90 minutes later had it safely back in their grasp. Their crews rowed to victory in 10 out of the 13 events on offer, including a sweep of the Year 9 Quad events - congratulations to the TC program for another brilliant HOR!

Trinity College rowing captain Jack Hansen-Knarhoi with the Hamer Cup. Photo: Total Sports Photography.

The talk of the rowing community in the lead up to the regatta was undoubtedly - who's your pick for the First VIII? Which crew amongst a fiercely competitive field was going to perform on the day? Hale and Trinity had gone toe-to-toe with two wins a piece up until PSA 5, where Hale took the final win before the big day - no doubt a confidence boost for the boys in blue. With CCGS also in the mix - second by 1.8 seconds at PSA 5 - the race was hotly anticipated. Trinity took an early lead, and for the next 1500m it was a cat and mouse between TC and Hale as one crew put their bow ball ahead before the other crawled back into the leading position. It was anybody's race - with the chase pack for the first half of the race, Christ Church launched an almighty surge to put themselves in contention for at least silver with 500m to go. As the last stretch of the race unfolded, CCGS put their bow ball ahead of TC, who had started to falter. Taking advantage of this tussle for a minor placing, Hale took advantage and with one massive final effort with 100m to go, secured their spot on the Challenge Cup itself - an emphatic win in the blue riband event.

The Hale School First VIII with the Challenge Cup. Photo: Total Sports Photography

Re-live it all by watching the livestream back here

You can find the full results here