Any traditional boat, or traditional-style replica, powered by a minimum of four oars or paddles, may enter. Sliding seats and riggers are not allowed, but adequately-fixed sliding seats may be permitted at the discretion of the Race scrutineers. The freeboard of individual entries will be examined carefully by the Race scrutineers and the Safety Marshals who may exclude any entry on safety grounds before, or during, the event. Random weight checks may be carried out at the Start.

Every boat must be covered by public liability insurance up to £2 million any one claim and for any loss, injury or damage to property or persons (including all persons aboard the craft) and it is strongly recommended that sufficient buoyancy aids are carried for all persons aboard. Any towing will be undertaken only at the boat owner’s risk.

Each boat must fly a flag (minimum of 3ft x 2ft) throughout the Race. This may be your national, club, livery, association or company flag (which can carry a commercial logo but not an advertising slogan) or one made especially for the Race.

In addition to the rowers, or paddlers, each boat must, at all times, carry a cox (who need not steer but must not row/paddle while coxing) and a separate passenger. Crew may freely change positions during the Race (see exceptions under ‘Classes’), but outside substitution or assistance is not permitted. Any crew member going ashore during the race will render their crew liable to immediate disqualification and withdrawal from safety cover.

It is the responsibility of the passenger to clearly display the Race number to Marshals at the Start and Finish of the Race and to confirm this vocally if requested. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. This rule will be enforced.

The maximum number of paddlers allowed in a full-size Chinese dragon boat (40ft) is 16. Compact dragon boats (30ft) are restricted to ten. Dragon heads and tails and drums should be carried and the drummer (who should be seated in the lower forward position at all times) may act as passenger. All dragon boat crew members must wear a buoyancy aid during the Race.Non-compliance will result in disqualification.

The minimum age for any person aboard is ten years. Any person aboard who is under 16 years of age and all coxes/ passengers are strongly advised to wear a buoyancy aid at all times. In both Under 16 and Under 14 crews one senior (over 18) cox or passenger MUST be carried in the boat and register the entry, but may not row/paddle, i.e. Under 14 and Under 16 crews must be registered by the obligatory adult (over 18) cox/passenger in charge of the boat (see details of age-based classes).

Mixed crews must have at least 50% women rowing/paddling at all times. Uneven crews (i.e. in Montagu whalers) must have a greater number of women rowers/paddlers.

Crews entering the open adaptive rowing class for rowers with disabilities should contact Stuart Wolff on 020 8398 8141 for specific eligibility criteria. In any crew where the ratio of able-bodied to disabled is less than one-to-one, it is strongly recommended that the entrant supply its own dedicated support craft. Disabled crew members are strongly advised to wear a buoyancy aid at all times.

Can ALL crews please ensure that they also read the Safety section below and adhere to all relevant guidelines especially with regard to the carrying and wearing of buoyancy aides.

Our regular safety reviews can result in rule amendments. Please read the Guidance Notes, Notice to Coxes (distributed on Raceday) and all other communications carefully, particularly those sections referring to flag signals, Marshals’ instructions and use of bridge arches. Please pay particular attention to the Start Layout and Start Guide (distributed on Raceday). These instructions are mandatory, and the cox of each vessel is responsible for adhering to them and must be aware of their designated Emergency Rendezvous Point (ERV) in the event of abort at the start of the Race. Every crew MUST confirm its final, accurate crew complement to Registration before proceeding to Scrutineers to collect its Race number.

It is the responsibility of the crew leader / crew to ensure that there are sufficient buoyancy aids carried on board for all persons. The cox and passenger should wear buoyancy aids at all times.

• Buoyancy aids must be worn throughout the Race by all Dragon Boat crews. Non-compliance will result in disqualification of the crew.
• We strongly recommend that any persons under 18 years of age aboard a boat competing in the Race should wear a buoyancy aid and all under-16 crew members must have a buoyancy aid available to be worn at the discretion of the compulsory responsible adult in charge, or to be put on immediately on instruction from a Race Marshal.
• Under-16 paddlers must wear buoyancy aids at all times. Non-compliance will result in disqualification.
• Disabled crew members are strongly advised to wear a buoyancy aid at all times.

Advertising by commercial organisations on, or of, any entry (including crew clothing) is permitted only by arrangement with the organisers.

Terms and Conditions for Racing — you can view and download a .pdf copy here

Who are we?

The Great River Race is an annual event. We are registered as The Great River Race Ltd in the UK (Company No. 02873637). The registered address is C/O Mr V Griffiths (GRR Ltd), The Hut, Retreat Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1NN. We act as the data controller when processing your data and we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

How do we collect information from you?

We collect information about you from our website when you register for an account, place an order or use one of our contact forms.

What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, IP address and information regarding what pages are accessed and when. If you make a purchase with us, we will store the orders and products you have purchased and these are accessible via your online account. When you place an order, your card information is not held by us. It is collected by our third party payment processors who specialise in the service of online capture and the processing of credit/debit card transactions. Credit/Debit card transactions are processed by PayPal and you can view their privacy policy here.

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We will never sell or rent your information to third parties. We will never share your information with third parties for marketing purposes. We may pass your information to our third party service providers for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example, processing payments and sending email communication). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service.

Keeping your information secure

This site uses SSL encryption to ensure that all personal information is handled in a secure manner. This encryption prevents third parties from gaining unauthorised access to your personal data when using our website. Most web browsers show a green padlock symbol to confirm when an SSL encryption is in place. We also take further steps to keep your data secure and protect against unauthorised access including the use of Firewalls, Antivirus/Malware protection and blocking access to suspicious traffic.

How to access, update and remove your information

We always try to ensure your data is as accurate as possible. We therefore encourage you to update your account with new data, especially around email address and billing/delivery addresses via your online account. If you believe the data we hold about you is incorrect then please contact us and we will update this in our systems as soon as is reasonably possible.

You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information which is held by The Great River Race. There is no charge to have a copy of this information. However, further copies of the same information may result in a reasonable administration fee. This information will be provided within 28 days of request.

If you wish for us to stop holding your personal data then you have the right to have this information removed from our systems. However, in accordance with UK tax law, we are required to securely store basic personal data of our customers for a minimum of six years.

If you wish to update or remove your personal information or request a copy of the information we hold about you, please email [email protected] or phone 020 8398 8141. Please be aware that we may require you to verify your identity before requesting a copy of, updating or removing personal information to ensure personal data is kept safe and secure.