The Great River Race 2012

Time Out says

Thu Jul 21 2011

London's annual river marathon race to find the Traditional Boat Champions, this year with a guest appearance at the end of the course by the gorgeous gilded barge Gloriana, built for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, with Team GB Olympic rowing medalists Sophie Hosking and Rob Williams aboard. It's a handicap race, with the slowest boats leaving first (the faster boats have up to an hour to make up which should result in some exciting racing). Approximate timings for the lead boats are: Tower Bridge 11.15am; Millennium Bridge 11.20am; Westminster Bridge 11.30am; Lambeth Bridge 11.35am; Battersea Bridge 11.45am; Wandsworth Bridge noon; Putney Bridge 12.05pm; Hammersmith Bridge 12.20pm; Chiswick Bridge 12.50pm; Kew Bridge 1.05pm; Richmond Bridge 1.35pm. More than 300 crews take part, ranging from serious athletes to recreational rowers in fancy dress. Vessels, meanwhile, are an eclectic mix of gigs, skiffs, Chinese dragon boats, Hawaiian war canoes, Viking longboats, Irish curraghs, shallops, wherries and whalers. The race starts at Millwall Riverside, Westferry Rd, E14 and finishes in front of Ham House, Richmond, where from 12.30pm there'll be all sorts of family entertainment on offer, as well as food, drink and music.