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A letter from Hereford Regatta "Hereford City Regatta 2006 unfortunately had to be cancelled, due to high river levels. Through the week leading up to the regatta, we experienced especially heavy rain for the time of the year. This gave rise to the prelonged high river levels. Monmouth regatta decided to make a final decision on whether to run or not on Friday morning, but after deciding to go ahead, had to abandon racing early on Saturday morning as levels continued to rise. Hereford regatta committee decided to make its final decision at 10am on Sunday morning. It was a difficult decision to make, especially in light of the cancellation of Monmouth regattas. Although upstream recorders indicated the river was falling and there was a potential for the regatta to go ahead, the regatta committee took into account the travel commitments of many competitors and the safety implications of running the regatta at even slightly elevated levels. The decision was therefore made to cancel this years regatta. The decision was shown to be the correct one on Monday morning, when the river of the levels was still over 5 feet and flowing very fast. Instead of the regatta, Hereford members, joined by members from Monmouth and Mortlake rowing clubs organised a club fun day. There were field games between the showers, a BBQ and food auction in the bar (To try an get rid of the masses of food!). This weekend has been a severe financial blow to both Hereford and Monmouth Regattas. We would like to thank all clubs from this year for being so understanding this year and look forward to their continued support next year." Note from editor - the latest weather reports suggest that even if it's an unusually wet summer, the south-eastern drought is likely to persist. It's a mad world. |