St Paul’s Post

The Championship Course

The Championship Course is a 6.779 km rowing course marked out along the tidal Thames between Putney and Chiswick. It has been used for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race since 1845 and, in the downriver direction, for the Tideway heads from November to April. There are permanent marker posts for the start and finish points and an obelisk in memory of the founder of the Head of the River Race, Steve Fairbairn, one mile from the Putney marker. Until now there has been no official landmark for the halfway point.

The complete set of markers for the Championship Course

The St Paul’s Post Project

Since the school moved to its current Barnes site, which spans the riverfront from Chiswick Eyot to Hammersmith Bridge, in 1968, there have been several proposals to install a halfway marker for the course. In summer 2022, Old Pauline Chris Harris proposed the current scheme, having contacted the Port of London Authority to determine the definitive halfway point. The school was supportive of the project and agreed to provide funds. Taking inspiration from existing course markers, a four metre oak post, in the black and white livery of St Paul’s School, has been installed in time for the spring head season and the Boat Race.

Location

The marker’s location was determined by taking a normal to the tangent to the racing line (assumed to be in the centre of the Fairway as bounded by the dotted lines in the PLA chart below) at the halfway point and extending it to the Surrey bank and then into the St Paul’s site.

The location of the halfway point and the St Paul’s Post Unveiling

On Monday 13th March 2023, the school was pleased to invite Alan Campbell, four times winner of the Wingfield Sculls and twice winner of the Scullers Head of the River, also World and Olympic medallist in the single scull, to unveil the St Paul’s Post. Representatives of the school, its Boat Club, the Boat Club Parents’ Group and the Old Pauline Club, along with representatives of the Boat Race Company Ltd, British Rowing, the Port of London Authority, all the major Tideway races and rowing press, were also invited.

Thanks

The project would not have started without Chris Harris and would not have got very far without the backing of the High Master, Sally-Anne Huang. Nothing would have made it into the ground without Tom Martin and his excellent grounds team. Thanks are also owed to Julie Emig and Ellie Green for putting together the unveiling ceremony and to Kelly Strickland and Hilary Cummings for organising the display from the rowing archives.

Matthew Smith President of the Boat Club, St Paul’s School