Held in the centre of Australia in Alice Springs, it's the sort of event that can motivate the most mature, conservative business people into the roles of "Vikings" and "Pirates" crewing battle boats bristling with mortars and high pressure water cannons.
In 1962, Reg Smith and his compatriots at the Alice Springs Meteorological Bureau proposed they hold an actual regatta along the lines of the famous Henley-on-Thames, a race between Cambridge and Oxford Universities. The idea was taken up by the Rotary club of Alice Springs, and the fact that the town was 1,500 km's from the nearest large body of water was never seen as a problem.
Watching seemingly sane people race in bottomless "eights", "oxford tubs", "bath tubs" and yachts through the deep coarse sand of the Todd River provides an unique spectacle amongst world sporting events. The multi-event program attracts many local and international participants from the audience who often finish up on world TV news paddling canoes with sand shovels and in "land lubber" events like filling empty 44 gallon drums with sand.
The ASSA ABLOY Henley-On-Todd Regatta is run entirely on a volunteer basis by the three Rotary Clubs based in the Alice. The entire proceeds - well over a million dollars raised over the years - allocated to local, national and international humanitarian projects.
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