The Vesta Veterans International Eights Head of the River Race is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames over the Championship Course. The direction in which the event is raced changes from year to year, dependent on the time of the tides: some years it is raced from Mortlake to Putney other years it will go the other way. It is open to veteran (also known as masters) eights, who race in categories determined by the average ages of the eight rowers. The race always takes place on the day following the Head of the River Race.
It is organised by Vesta Rowing Club.
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
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Scraped clean—a river dried to its bed”
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)