Henley on Todd Regatta

Held in the centre of Australia in Alice Springs, this event can motivate the most mature, conservative business people into the roles of "Vikings" and "Pirates" crewing battle boats bristling with mortars and high pressure water cannons.

In 1962, Reg Smith and his compatriots at the Alice Springs Meteorological Bureau proposed they hold an actual regatta along the lines of the famous Henley-on-Thames, a race between Cambridge and Oxford Universities. The idea was taken up by the Rotary club of Alice Springs and the fact that the town was 1,500 km from the nearest large body of water was never seen as a problem.

Watching seemingly sane people race in bottomless "eights", "oxford tubs", "bath tubs" and yachts through the deep coarse sand of the Todd River provides a unique spectacle amongst world sporting events. The multi-event program attracts many local and international participants from the audience who often finish up on world TV news, paddling canoes with sand shovels and in "land lubber" events like filling empty 44 gallon drums with sand. This year's Henley-on-Todd Regatta was the 50th running, which is pretty remarkable considering it is an entirely volunteer run fundraising event.  Somehow, Ian got commandeered into racing in the Australian Cup, which is an invitational race between the site Americans and Australians.  It is purely for bragging rights which have been held by the Australians for the last few years.  However, it was the last race of the day, so in the meantime, Ian got to run in a 4 man "kayak" race, an 8 man "Maxi Yacht" race, a tug o war all this before the Cup.

Some other events included 2 man "cycling" - think a man in a giant gerbil wheel on the sand.  They run to one end, switch off runners and run back; "rowing" - using a shovel to propel themselves along a track in the sand on a dolly; and "skiing".

Enjoy a few pictures from the day. 

The Parade

The team with the boat

Just a little humor referencing the myths about site

The Events

4-man sand "skiing"

Got a medal for winning this one!

Tug o war (didn't win)

Catching up - gonna win!

Falling - gonna lose. :(

The Australian Cup

The Start

After the turn

Coming to the finish line

The Winners - Go USA!!

Jamie is so proud of his Daddy!

The Battle of the Boats

The end of the Regatta is noted by the Battle of the Boats.  Each of the three Rotary Clubs in the area (Alice Springs, Stuart and Tennant Creek) that join together to host this event, stage a mock battle at the end.  Water guns, flour cannons and 12 man boats on ATV make for a hilarious end to the day.  Especially, when one of the drivers runs over the fence...