£2000 on the Line at the world’s oldest regatta

Chester Regatta’s action-packed schedule delivers a weekend of racing the city can be proud of

For the third year in a row, Chester Regatta will host the King’s Coronation Cup which will see mixed masters eights compete for a £2000 prize. Kindly sponsored by the Walker-Williams family, the competition running between divisions on Saturday was launched to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles but also to introduce more mixed rowing into the racing calendar.

This is part of a wider effort by the cooperative from across the six Chester clubs that run the regatta to widen the inclusivity of the event. This is only the second year that Chester Regatta has been run over two days and with more than 20 clubs racing, it’s set to be a thrilling weekend on the Dee. As the world’s oldest regatta, Chester aims to be a celebration of rowing and would like to grow into a three day event by their 300th anniversary in 2033.

Having recently expanded to Sunday; the second day of racing differs from Saturday’s traditional 700m upstream racing.

“As part of the second day of our event, we’ve engaged with the six rowing clubs in Chester and tried to ask the rowers what they want from their event,” explained Chester Regatta’s Publicity & Promotions Officer Adele Munday.

“We’re trying to be as inclusive as possible and we are having a division that is free of charge for all the Youth Rowing Chester schools for new members to get their first experience of a regatta. We did that last year and it was very well received so we are repeating that this year,” continued Munday.

“Obviously British Rowing and Love Rowing are trying to encourage more rowing across the country so in Chester we have Chester Schools Together. It’s the schools who don’t offer rowing, who aren’t from a rowing background and don’t have access to equipment and they are on Learn to Row programmes at the Chester clubs, that’s something that the Chester clubs are putting on to bring those non-rowing juniors in and make rowing more accessible to them.

“It’s a special division for young adults who would not normally have the opportunity to take part.”

Chester Regatta ran this division as a round-robin last year but is excited to see this development into more of a regatta format this weekend. It’s something that they are keen to expand in future years as well and would extend an invitation to more schools and programmes to come and participate in going forward.

While Sunday’s second division is aimed at encouraging development and recreational rowers as well as less experienced juniors into regatta rowing, spectators can expect some high-powered, fast and furious racing as the top crews will race off stakeboats upstream over 350m.
“With the Sunday event, we’re trying to create something that’s a bit different from a standard regatta,” explained Munday.

“It will have a bit of everything! Upstream and downstream racing, sprint races and something offered to beginners right the way through to more experienced crews, including those who are training for the likes of Henley, which is why we’ve got the upstream starts similar to what they’ll have later in the season.”

Sunday will also have three separate cash prizes of £250 for the winner of the Junior, Senior, and Masters Victor Ludorum. The Regatta hope that this money can be reinvested back into clubs in order to support their rowing programmes.

During Saturday’s racing, all eyes will be in the open and women’s Championship Singles. Scullers will contest the Championship of the Dee Trophy and the City of Chester Challenge Cup in one-on-one, knock-out racing.

There’s a great deal of importance to the trophies, as Munday explained: “The city of Chester trophy is what our event logo is designed around.

“It’s Victoria who sits on top of that and that is the lady who is represented in our new logo a few years ago. A reason why the logo is a hexagon and has six stars is to represent the six clubs that form the Chester cooperative that runs the regatta.”

Munday is particularly excited to watch the competition play out for the Championship of the Dee Trophy. James Cox, who learned to row for Queens Park Chester Rowing Club returns to the Dee having previously won the event. Cox, who will race for Agecroft Rowing Club as part of the GB Performance Development Academy, has represented Great Britain at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals where he won a silver medal in the Coastal Under 19 Men’s Solo event.

You can find all the information about the 2025 Chester Regatta here.