history of psa head of the river rowing regatta western australia

2020 PSA Head of the River

On 18th March 2020, the day before the scheduled date for the regatta, the Headmasters of the PSA cancelled the Head of the River and all other PSA summer sport. The notification is reproduced opposite. Specifically, they stated:

In light of the rapidly changing landscape in relation to COVID-19, and in the Interest or the health and safety of the wider community, the PSA committee, comprised of the Heads of the seven member schools, has unanimously endorsed the cancellation of current PSA and JPSSA summer sporting competitions, effective immediately.

This decision reflects the Federal Government's ban on mass gatherings and the direction of national and state sporting organisations of our PSA sports, both summer and winter. Furthermore. it respects the health and welfare of our students, staff and school communities and mirrors the standards and protocols of social responsibility being asked of the wider community at this point in time.

The world was at this time in the early stages of a pandemic which needed to be contained to match available medical facilities. No vaccine or supporting drugs had yet been developed and the virus was highly contagious. Countries around the world were locking down borders, gatherings reduced to low numbers and social distancing rules imposed.

Hamer Cup

The Hamer Cup is awarded to the school with the highest aggregate points across all events at the Head of the River regatta.

This trophy was not awarded.

Image of the cancellation notification

First Eights

Challenge Cup

> next 2021

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Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.