The Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta

The Head of the Schuylkill Regatta returns to the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park on Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25. This is the 56th edition of the race, and it's one of the biggest fall rowing events in the country. Racing starts at 8 AM on Saturday and 7:45 AM on Sunday, so if you're heading out to watch, you'll want to be there early. The finish line is near the Three Angels statues on the east bank, which is a great spot to catch the crews coming in.

It's a race with some real history behind it. It started in 1970 when three members of the University Barge Club on Boathouse Row — 1960 Olympian Lyman Perry, Jay Pattison III, and the late Raul Betancourt — took the 1,000-meter Graduate Sculls race and turned it into a head-racing format so rowers of all ages could compete in the autumn. That change opened the regatta to masters and women: twelve women entered the first one, and by 2013 more than 3,200 females were competing, outnumbering the men. In 1975, it was renamed The Thomas Eakins Head of the Schuylkill Regatta after the Philadelphia painter whose work often featured scullers on the river. Since then, it's grown into a 501(c)(3) non-profit and expanded to two days in 2008. Rowing News once called it "the best head race in the world. Period."

On race days, tens of thousands of people line the course to take in Boathouse Row and the Three Angels statues. If you're driving, off-site parking is $20 per day, with free shuttle buses to get you to the river. Racing starts at 8 AM Saturday and 7:45 AM Sunday, and the finish is near the Three Angels statues on the east bank.