The race was founded on a much smaller scale, in 1925, by Steve Fairbairn – an influential rower then rowing coach of the early 20th century, who transformed the sport into one involving today's lengthier slides enabling conventional (Fairbairnized) racing shell propulsion.

"Mileage makes champions" was one of Fairbairn's repeated phrases included in his four volumes on rowing coaching and in other correspondence.

Despite the choice of day of the week, the race went ahead with 23 entries (21 started) at a cost of 5s per crew (equivalent to £18 in 2023).

"So far the ARA were slumbering in sweet ignorance of the horrible fact that racing was taking place on a Sunday.

Given these past combinations, crews that are partly the GB men's eight have won the race more than 40 times.

From 1979 onwards, due to the sheer volume of competitors and for reasons of safety on a relatively small area of river and riverside, the HORR Committee had at that point to impose a limit of 420 crews, which still exists today.

Eight trophies are awarded for the fastest crews under these categories: Eight pennants (large triangular flags), a plaque and individual medals are awarded annually since 2015 to the fastest: Extract from full results on the race organisation's website:[2][3][d]