The 56th Head of the Schuylkill Regatta fills the banks of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October. Registration is closed with 2,299 entries from 265 clubs. In a typical year, more than 8,000 athletes reach the finish, and organisers expect 20,000 to 30,000 spectators along Kelly Drive.
Championship crews from Penn, Drexel, La Salle and Temple race the same stretch of water as parent-and-child doubles, para scullers, alumni eights and a corporate half-course event. Watching is free, and it is easy to get around on foot.
The race in brief
Boats leave the start one after another, in bow-number order, and the fastest elapsed time wins, after any penalties and, in some events, an age or family handicap. Crews are not racing the boat beside them, though they will often be passing it.
The main course runs approximately 3,800m, or 2.36 miles, downstream. The start sits below the Twin Bridges, above Strawberry Mansion Bridge, about 100m below the 2,000m sprint start line at Hunting Park Avenue. The finish is below Girard Avenue Bridge, roughly 250m short of Sedgeley Lighthouse at the top of Boathouse Row. On the way, crews pass under four bridges, each through a single arch marked by pyramid buoys on either side, and round the bend at Columbia Bridge. The Corporate Challenge alone uses a half course.
That combination of bends and narrow arches makes this, in the organisers' words, "one of the most challenging courses in the country". Coxes and bowmen who steer well save seconds here, and the bridges are where crews are most likely to pick up penalties.
The event dates from 1970, when three University Barge Club members, Lyman Perry, Jay Pattison III and Raul Betancourt, turned a 1,000m graduate sculls race into a head. About 180 competitors raced, 12 of them women. In 1975, the regatta was named in honour of Thomas Eakins, the Philadelphia artist recognised as one of America's finest painters, and the regatta grew into the world's largest one-day rowing event before the river ran out of room and it moved to two days in 2008. Women outnumbered men among competitors for the first time in 2013.
Race times: Saturday 24 October
All times in this guide are Philadelphia local time (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT; UTC−4). Saturday's times below follow the HereNow heat sheets. Check them again before travelling or launching, as start times may change. Each time below is when the first boat in that block starts. Crews take some minutes to cover the course, so add time before the leaders reach the middle and finish of the course.
Saturday belongs to college, championship, club, masters, para, alumni and family racing:
- 8:00am Classified para singles; Para Inclusion doubles
- 8:05am Adaptive Inclusion doubles
- 8:30am / 8:35am Men's / women's championship pairs
- 8:45–9:00am Men's masters and veterans singles, including lightweights
- 9:10–9:20am Women's masters and veterans singles, including lightweights
- 9:30am Men's and women's masters pairs
- 9:40am / 9:50am Men's / women's college freshman/novice coxed fours
- 10:00am Sibling and father/son doubles
- 10:05am Father/daughter doubles
- 10:10am Mother/son and mother/daughter doubles
- 10:25am / 10:40am Men's / women's championship coxed fours
- 11:00am / 11:15am Men's / women's masters and veterans coxed fours
- 11:35am / 11:50am Men's / women's college freshman/novice eights
- 12:25pm Men's alumni quads; men's and women's alumni coxed fours
- 12:50pm Men's Redgrave Challenge championship singles, including lightweight
- 12:55pm Men's collegiate singles
- 1:05pm Women's Redgrave Challenge championship singles, including lightweight; women's collegiate singles
- 1:25pm / 1:45pm Men's / women's club championship eights
- 2:05pm Men's masters and veterans eights
- 2:20–2:25pm Women's masters and veterans eights
- 2:50pm Men's championship and collegiate doubles
- 3:00pm Women's championship doubles, including lightweight, and collegiate doubles
- 3:25pm Men's championship eights
- 3:35pm Women's championship eights
- 3:55pm Men's masters doubles
- 4:00pm Men's veterans doubles
- 4:10pm Women's masters and veterans doubles
- 4:25pm Men's and women's championship and collegiate quads
- 4:40pm Men's, mixed and women's alumni eights
- 4:45pm Mixed masters eights
If you can only come for one session, come for the late afternoon. The men's championship eights start at 3:25pm and the women's at 3:35pm, subject to change.
Race times: Sunday 25 October
Sunday is mostly high-school racing, with mixed championship and masters events alongside. These times come from the organiser's tentative schedule, so check the heat sheets on the morning:
- 7:45am Mixed masters coxed fours; high-school JV coxed quads
- 8:00am High-school trainer singles; freshman/novice quads and coxed quads
- 8:45am Jim Barker high-school singles: varsity, JV and freshman/novice
- 9:45am Men's high-school varsity coxed fours
- 10:05am Women's high-school varsity coxed fours; freshman/novice doubles
- 10:45am Michael O'Gorman freshman/novice eights; Paul Coomes varsity quads; JV quads and varsity coxed quads
- 12:35pm Mixed championship and masters/veterans doubles; high-school JV and freshman/novice coxed fours; varsity and JV doubles
- 2:10pm Men's and women's varsity/first-boat high-school eights; masters and veterans quads; men's JV/lower-boat eights
- 4:35pm Women's JV/lower-boat eights; mixed championship quads
- 4:55pm Mixed masters and veterans quads
New this year is a mixed high-school varsity coxed four, which the organisers say is "intended to give upper classmates a fun experience in their final year(s)". High-school coxed quads have been added to the programme permanently.
Where to watch
The Three Angels Festival Area
Start here. The Three Angels sit on Kelly Drive near Fountain Green Drive, about a mile upstream of the finish. They are Carl Milles's Playing Angels sculpture, which gives the festival area its name. Regatta headquarters, information, food trucks and vendors, the awards desk and the Festival Tent are all here. Inside the tent you can hear race commentary and watch the live stream, produced by Five Tribes Cinema Productions. This is also the main launch site for visiting crews, so there is plenty of activity at the docks between races.
Along the bank
The path follows the river from the start area to the finish, walking the full course takes about an hour. The official course map breaks the route into sections, and each offers something different:
- Above and around Strawberry Mansion Bridge: marshalling and the start. You can watch crews turn into the starting chute and set off. Historic Laurel Hill Cemetery is close by.
- Grandstands to Columbia Bridge: crews settled into their race pace, approaching the first real test.
- The Columbia Bridge turn: the best spot for watching steering. Crews pass through the Columbia Bridge arch before rounding the bend towards Three Angels, often while overtaking or being overtaken. The bends and bridge arches are the course's pinch points, usually the inside line at a bend belongs to the overtaking boat.
- Three Angels to the railroad bridge: mid-to-late course racing, with the festival area alongside.
- Railroad and Girard Avenue bridges: the last two arches, with crews tiring and holding on.
- The finish: upstream of Boathouse Row, beside the Sculpture Gardens. A tent on the Kelly Drive bank and two large pyramid buoys mark the line.
For newcomers: because crews start one at a time, the boat in front is not necessarily winning. Check the bow numbers, a higher number moving through a lower one is a crew gaining time.
Head of the Schuylkill Livestream
Can’t make it to Kelly Drive? Watch the racing from wherever you are. Choose the Saturday or Sunday livestream below to follow the action on the Schuylkill.
Getting there and getting around
Admission
Watching is free. Pets are welcome and portable toilets are on site. The regatta runs a no single-use bottles policy: bring a reusable bottle and top it up at the blue water stations beside the bank between Boathouse Row and the Canoe Club lot.
Driving and parking
Most spectators will not be able to drive to the course. From noon on Friday 23 October until 6pm on Sunday 25 October, Kelly Drive between Strawberry Mansion Bridge and Fountain Green Drive is restricted to vehicles with an HOSR access pass, travelling southbound only.
Off-site parking costs $20 per day, credit card only (Apple Pay and Google Pay accepted). It is managed by Philadelphia's Department of Parks and Recreation. Head first for the Mount Pleasant Drive lot by the ball fields; if it is full, staff will send you to an overflow lot. Coming from the access barrier on Kelly Drive, bear left uphill to Reservoir Drive, then turn right onto Mount Pleasant Drive.
Free shuttles, which are yellow school buses, run from both lots from 7am, with the last loop at 6:15pm. You can ask to be dropped anywhere along Kelly Drive or Boathouse Row. Note which flagged area you parked in, and leave nothing valuable on show in the car.
Public transport and walking
SEPTA bus routes 7, 32, 38, 43, 48 and 49 serve the Benjamin Franklin Parkway near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Suburban Station and the 19th Street and 22nd Street stations are within walking distance. The museum sits just downstream of Boathouse Row, so from there you walk upriver along the course: a short stroll to the finish, and about a mile further to the Three Angels.
Accessibility
Contact info@hosr.org before travelling to confirm accessible parking, drop-off arrangements and golf-cart transfers for 2026. The organiser's older spectator guidance describes limited accessible parking at the Grandstand lot, requiring both an HOSR access pass and a disability parking permit, but does not guarantee a space.
Crews to follow
Men's championship eights, 3:25pm Saturday
Something of a local Boathouse Row derby. There are 17 entries, all but five of them based on the Schuylkill. Penn's A and B crews have finished first and second in each of the past two years. In 2023, Penn's A crew lost to Navy by 0.54 seconds.
La Salle have taken bronze in both 2024 and 2025. Last year they finished less than two seconds behind Penn B after recovering more than six seconds over the closing section.
The best recent form line belongs to Drexel. They won the collegiate eight at the Navy Day Regatta on 11 October in 12:13.45, beating La Salle by 0.63 seconds, with Temple third. Drexel also won the JV eight in 12:26.09 and the freshman eight in 12:50.27. The Drexel–La Salle rivalry has dominated the Dad Vail men's eight in recent years, and Navy Day showed how close the two crews are now.
Bow numbers to look out for:
- 796 Penn A
- 797 Penn B
- 798 La Salle
- 799 Temple
- 800 Drexel
- 801 Penn C
- 802 Saint Joseph's
- 803 Delaware
- 808 Drexel's second crew
Women's championship eights, 3:35pm Saturday
Penn are the crew to catch in the women's championship eights. They took gold and silver last year, and the B crew beat the A crew by 6.25 seconds. Villanova were third. Penn bring four crews again.
Temple's A crew finished third at Navy Day in 14:08.35, and their JV eight was second in 15:01.81. Delaware and Drexel are evenly matched: Delaware won their season opener at the Bucknell Head Race on 3 October by 0.38 seconds.
The winners take the Todd B. Craun Memorial Race award. Bow numbers:
- 815 Penn B
- 816 Penn A
- 817 Villanova
- 818 Trinity College
- 819 Penn C
- 820 Delaware
- 821 Sacred Heart
- 822 La Salle
- 823 Drexel
- 824 Penn D
- 825 Temple
High-school racing, Sunday
RowAmerica Rye won all three high-school points trophies in 2025: men's, women's and overall. They arrive straight from the Head of the Charles, where their women retained the youth eight title, adding to a third consecutive USRowing Youth National Championship in June and wins at the Head of the Riverfront and Head of the Housatonic.
The varsity eights at 2:10pm race for the Mayor's Cup. Freshman/novice eights race for the Michael O'Gorman trophies, and the JV and lower-boat eights for the John Hartigan Trophy, named after the Olympian and world champion coxswain born with spina bifida.
Singles, masters and the rest
The Redgrave Challenge, run in honour of Sir Steve Redgrave, brings together open and collegiate championship singles, heavyweight and lightweight, men and women, from 12:50pm on Saturday.
In the masters and open categories, last year's points trophies went to Fairmount (masters men), Vesper (masters women and overall), Penn (open men) and Penn AC (open women and overall). Vesper, Fairmount, Penn AC, Undine and University Barge Club all appear in Saturday's draw.
The family doubles on Saturday morning are among the most enjoyable races to watch. Keep an eye out for costumes too: crews must race in matching kit, except that composite crews may wear their organisations’ respective colours and whole crews may wear Halloween costumes.
For competitors
Before you race
Collect registration packets and bow markers at least two hours before your event's published start:
- Friday 23 October: 4:00–7:30pm, Lloyd Hall, 1 Kelly Drive
- Saturday 24 October: 6:30–10:00am, Lloyd Hall
- Saturday 24 October: 4:00–7:30pm, University Barge Club, 7 Kelly Drive
- Sunday 25 October: 6:30–9:30am, University Barge Club
Practice is open on Friday from noon to 5:30pm. There is no Saturday practice. If you missed Wednesday's coach, competitor and cox meeting on Zoom, the recording is posted on RegattaCentral and hosr.org.
The bow marker must be visible on both sides of the boat, and the bow-most athlete, plus any stern-seated cox, must wear the matching back marker. Boats need a bow ball at least 4cm in diameter and heel restraints that limit lift to 7.5cm.
Lightweight limits are 160lb for men and 130lb for women, per rower. Weigh in at onsite registration the evening before or the morning of your first race, in racing kit and without shoes. One weigh-in covers all your events that day. Coxes do not weigh in.
Trailers, tents and chuckwagons
The organiser's Competitor Info page gives trailer-arrival windows of noon–8pm on Friday for Saturday racing, and 5:30–8pm on Saturday or 6–7am on Sunday for Sunday racing. Its Traffic Flow page gives a 7:30pm cut-off for Friday and Saturday arrivals. Spaces are not assigned: parking staff direct you, and tow vehicles must be unhitched and moved off the grass. Numbered markers on lampposts between Girard Avenue Bridge and Columbia Bridge help athletes find their trailer, so send your team the nearest number.
Team tents are first come, first served. Spectator tents, grills and chuckwagons go between the City Dock and the Grandstand lot. Chuckwagon permits were $75 a day and closed on 20 October. Access passes get you onto Kelly Drive but do not guarantee a parking space, and drivers must stay below 10mph.
Launching and the traffic pattern
Boats need to reach the marshals above Strawberry Mansion Bridge at least ten minutes before their event starts. Launch at least 40 minutes before your event from Boathouse Row, 30 minutes from the Three Angels or 15 minutes from the Canoe Club. At the Angels docks crews launch in bow-number order, so let lower numbers go first. Unless officials say otherwise, expect the programme to run on schedule.
Row up to the start along the east (Kelly Drive) bank, outside the continuous buoy line. Straying onto the course means automatic disqualification. Adaptive crews launching from PAR are an exception to the ban on rowing upstream on the west side. Follow race officials' directions for the journey to the start; referees will monitor and escort these boats as safety requires. After racing, they return upstream along the west bank. After finishing, Boathouse Row crews return straight downstream; Three Angels and Canoe Club crews return upstream along the east bank. The course map's instruction is: "Keep Yellow Buoys to Port, Orange Buoys to Starboard."
Overtaking and penalties
A boat is overtaking once it is within one length of open water. It chooses the side to pass on, provided the pass is safe, and the slower crew should have moved over by the time the gap closes to half a length. Failing to yield in sufficient time incurs a 30-second penalty, unless there is no clear, safe way to move aside within the course because of fixed obstructions or other boats. An overtaking crew that uses intimidating tactics against a boat unable to yield safely also incurs 30 seconds. If undue interference is compounded by excessive rudeness or foul language, an umpire may assess a penalty of at least 60 seconds. Missing a designated arch also brings a significant time penalty.
The rules offer this advice to anyone tempted to force a pass at a bridge:
"Seasoned and tactically prudent head-racing scullers and crews are the ones that remember that it is often more costly to press forward in a high-risk situation that results in interference than to slow down temporarily and wait for the right moment to execute a successful pass."
A capsize, or losing anyone overboard, means a medical check and the end of that race for the crew. To protest an incident, tell an on-water marshal at the finish before you row back, then file in writing at headquarters at the Three Angels within an hour of landing, with a $50 deposit that is refunded if the protest is upheld.
Results and medals
Medals go to the top three in any event with at least three entries, and cleared medallists can collect them at the Awards Desk in the Festival Tent throughout the day. Points trophies in the high school, college, open and masters divisions score three, two and one for the top three places. Composite crews and unaffiliated scullers do not score. This year's top five from each 2025 event were seeded comparably, provided they entered on time.
A short glossary
- 1x, 2x, 4x: single, double and quad sculls, where each athlete uses two oars
- 2-, 4+, 8+: coxless pair, coxed four and eight, where each rower uses one oar
- Cox: steers the boat and runs the race plan
- Bow number: the boat's identifier, which also reflects start order
- Handicap: a time adjustment for veterans, alumni and family crews, based on age
- Composite: a crew made up of athletes from more than one club
- PR1, PR2, PR3: para classifications covering arms and shoulders; trunk and arms; and legs, trunk and arms
- Chuckwagon: a team food trailer
- Crab: an oar caught in the water, which can stop a boat
Making a weekend of it
Boathouse Row is at the finish, and the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with its Rocky Steps, are just beyond it. Eastern State Penitentiary is a short walk from Boathouse Row and puts on Halloween events through October. The Discovery Center, a former reservoir that is now a wildlife sanctuary, is a short walk up Fountain Green Drive from the Three Angels.
