page_title: Head of the Schuylkill Regatta
section_title: Format and course
hierarchical_section_title: Head of the Schuylkill Regatta / Format and course
caption_attribution_description: English: Columbia Railroad Bridge from above
context_page_description: The Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta is a rowing race held annually during the last weekend in October on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The HOSR is the final race in the Fall Fury series, which includes the Head of the Ohio and the Head of the Connecticut. Along with the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Connecticut, the HOSR is considered one of the three “fall classics.” The HOSR is one of the marquee races in the Philadelphia Classic Regatta Series, which also includes the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Championship, the Schuylkill Navy Regatta, and the Independence Day Regatta.
  Regattas such as the Head of the Charles in Boston and the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia are to the rowing world what the New York Marathon and the Boston Marathon are to running.
  — Susan Saint Sing, The Eight: A Season in the Tradition of Harvard Crew
context_section_description: The HOSR is a head race, which is a time-trial competition where boats race in close succession from a rolling start.  The rower or crew completing the course in the shortest time in their age, ability and boat-class category is deemed the winner.
  The course stretches 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the start to the finish at Boathouse Row and contains four bridges in total, which appear in this order from the start:
  The Columbia Railroad Bridge, is the most difficult part of the course because coxswains must make a sharp turn of  nearly ninety degrees.
  Coming under the Columbia bridge is like the Weeks [Memorial Bridge] turn at the Charles. You want to be already turning before you get out of the bridge.
  — NYAC coxswain Leigh Heyman, Rowing News
  There is a dangerous waterfall less than 300 meters from the finish line across from Boathouse Row. The 13-foot Fairmount Water Works Dam stretches 400 meters across the Schuylkill.
  The dam is difficult for coxswains to see because it is so wide. A rowing shell caught broadside beyond the safety cable would easily be swept over the falls.
caption: Columbia Bridge turn
exif: {}