Arlo Loft takes us around the 158th Bedford Regatta which was held on Saturday 11 May 2024.
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Transcript:
Hello everyone, today I'm at the 158th Bedford Regatta. The Bedford Regatta is one of the largest single day regattas in the Uk with around 260 races in one day.
It was founded in 1853 after a big interest of rowing in the area and after a couple of races the first official race took place on the 25th of August 1853.
The first 8 regattas were purely local affairs and the prizes being money. But in 1860 the made open races for fours, pairs and sculls. Shortly after that they introduced silver cups instead of money as the prize.
The first Bedford Regatta committee was made up of people interested in the sport but didn't know how to run the committee. As the years went by the committee expanded to what it is now, with the committee made up of representatives from the local rowing clubs in the town.