Organisers of this weekend's 282nd Chester Regatta are over the moon to have received a strong entry from rowing clubs across the country following a radical rethink of the format.
More than 200 crews from 21 clubs will compete on the River Dee on Saturday, June 13, including medallists from the National Schools' Championships, Great Britain juniors and local clubs Royal Chester and Grosvenor.
The new race format has been designed to improve the regatta for competitors and spectators alike
Jan Chillery, secretary and vice chair of Chester Regatta, said: "We are delighted and frankly relieved with the strong entry this year.
"It fully justifies the risk the committee took in changing the format of Chester Regatta fundamentally. We have put an enormous effort into the new regatta at every stage of the process.
"To have 70% more clubs at Chester Regatta in 2015 than last year, and a lot more big boats, is a great achievement.
"I admit the committee were worried that the changes might lose the entries we already had, but we knew we had to try something different if we wanted to grow Chester Regatta."
Entries include 45 crews from The King's School and Queen's Park High School, who will be competing 33 crews from Merchant Taylors and Royal Shrewsbury schools.
There are strong entries from Trafford, North Staffordshire, Warrington and Mersey rowing clubs, 20 crews from Trentham Boat Club together with athletes from the universities of Chester, Liverpool and Keele.
Chester Regatta is the oldest regatta of its type in the world, dating from 1733 or earlier.
Despite an impressive pedigree, the regatta has struggled to attract top crews with athletes preferring to compete at multi-lane regattas on purpose-built rowing lakes.
To address this, organisers have gained the approval from British Rowing to run a unique new speed-focused format for everyone except junior crews.
The changes are designed to create a more exciting competition, but do mean adult competitors cannot race in more than one event.
Jan said: "The regatta committee were worried that the new format, which does not allow 'doubling-up' of crews and boats in the adult section, could dramatically reduce our revenue from entries.
"Chester Regatta is a not-for-profit organisation entirely run by volunteers. It could seriously hit the Regatta’s financial viability if the new format had not worked.
"However, we knew we could not continue to do the same old thing and expect a different, better result. We had to rethink Chester Regatta for the new century."
A new para-rowing section has also been introduced for 2015.
Bruce Belcher of Grosvenor RC coaches a squad comprising men and women with learning disabilities. Almost all of his squad will be rowing at Chester Regatta in front of their home crowd.
He said: "Some of my squad have worked towards this event for two years and I think all of them are beside themselves with excitement."
Committee members are grateful to sponsors, including Deeside-based Pro-Networks Ltd and Aaron & Partners solicitors, for continuing to support the regatta.
