The 2025 Secret City Head Race - Oct 25-26
Melton Hill Lake, Oak Ridge, TN

Registration is OPEN. Please submit a Notification of Interest entry to let everyone know that your team is planning to participate. Early Registration continues through September 7, 2025. Take advantage of the early registration rates. No-penalty scratch deadline continues through the close of Standard Registration.

[July 29, 2025] Per USRowing:  USRowing is implementing a new compliance feature when making entries on RegattaCentral for all USRowing sanctioned, registered, and owned regattas starting on August 18, 2025 (therefore affecting the Secret City Head Race). ... This change is being made in an effort to decrease duplicate profiles being entered into the database and improve overall team and regatta compliance.   ...   The compliance feature will require all athletes to be listed on your team's roster and a USRowing member number must exist for the individual being added to a lineup when making an entry. Please note, athletes do not need to be compliant when entries are made. 

Schedule, Heats and Timing Results:

Here Now Schedule (pending) The HereNow schedule is authoritative.  
Here Now Heat Sheets (pending)
Here Now Results (pending)

2024 Here Now Results     

Coaches and Coxswains (C&C): Wednesday 8pm Eastern/7pm Central via Zoom (pending). 
It is very important that every team have a representative at this meeting, risking important information about the announcement schedule, launch and staging schedule, and race schedule.

Announcement-only text messages will be provided through GroupMe. These text-based messages will provide late-breaking news that affects the regatta. Click on the link above, navigate to  https://groupme.com/join_group/108973102/eZQz2pi6 or scan the QR code here. 

VIP Parking Passes  (link pending) go on sale the same day registration opens. 
Please pick up your pass on Friday to ease congestion at the parking lot entrance on Saturday morning. Per City of Oak Ridge, parking along Melton Lake Road is permitted. Please pay attention to posted signs regarding restricted areas/no-parking signs. The City enforces those violations aggresively.

Continued in 2025 - Collegiate events are expanded, on both days, to include both Men's and Women's Novice and Collegiate 8+ and 4+. 

ORRA is delighted to include inclusive events at the Secret City Head Race. We have scheduled an Inclusive 2x (Saturday: Mixed Masters 2x) and Inclusive 4+ (Sunday: Mixed Masters Inclusive 4+), and are happy to consider other events.  Please contact us with those requests.

New in 2025 - We've expanded the Saturday U15 8+ events to offer separate Men's and Women's events and ADD a Mixed U15 8+.

We've ADDED a Parent/Child to the Saturday afternoon schedule. We'll use the same rules as the Hooch- All entries in the Parent/Child 2x event shall be comprised of two rowers, an adult master’s rower, and their son or daughter. The “child” can be of any age. Entries can be mixed or of the same gender. The standard Masters’ handicap will not apply to this event. Or, using the HOCR rule- Parent/Child: No handicap, any gender, any age. Participants must be related.

Course Maps are posted.  Full Packet posted.  Quick Reference posted.  Apparel online shop (link pending).

Team Tent Rental Space  Link (pending)

Overview

The regatta features our traditional downstream course on Saturday and our throwback upstream course on Sunday. Both courses are 5000m and offer beautiful scenery and a challenging steering course that includes sweeping turns and bridges. Maps of the courses are posted below. They are completely independent, sharing only the same 5000-meter finish line. Watch for bald eagles and osprey on the downstream course. Heron sightings will be plentiful on the upstream course.

Events are offered on both days to allow coaches and athletes a wide variety of options to enter multiple events and multiple boatings. Legend - M(en), (W)omen, Mi(X)ed, and (I)nclusive.

2025 Saturday Event Cross Reference

	1x	2x	2-	4x	4x+	4+	8+
U15						MW	MWX
U16					MW	MWX	MW
U17	MW	MW		MW		MW	MW
U19	MW	MW	MW	MW		MW	MW
Collegiate Novice						MW	MW
Collegiate			W	MW		MW	MW
Open	MW
Masters	MW	MWXI		MWX		MWX	MWX
Parent/Child		P/C

 

2025 Sunday Event Cross Reference

	1x	2x	2-	4x	4x+	4+	8+
Jr. Novice						MW	MWX
Junior	MW	MW	MW	MW		MW	MWX
Collegiate Novice						MW
Collegiate	M	MW	M	W	M	MW
Open	MW
Masters	MW	MWX	MW	MWX		MWX

ORRA looks to provide ample opportunities to race in events both Saturday and Sunday. However, due to Sunday being a shorter race day not all events will be offered. The order of races are hard to change so please use your line-up and entry skills and experience to plan accordingly. 

Quick Links

• Secret City Head Race - Full Information Packet
• Secret City Head Race - Quick Reference
• Join the 2025 Secret City Head Race GroupMe
  This will be used to communicate information to coaches and other participants throughout the Event. It is a hidden/no-approval/announce-only text message service.
• Coaches and Coxswains Zoom Meeting is Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 8pm. 
• Course Maps: Saturday | Downstream.   Sunday | Upstream.
• Official Regatta Apparel (link pending)
• On-Site Parking Passes (link pending)
• Oak Ridge Rowing / Secret City Head Race Site Map
• Boat Rental Request Form (Google Forms)

2025 Secret City Head Race Dates are CONFIRMED for October 25-26. This follows the Head of the Charles on the prior weekend, and precedes the Head of the Hooch the following weekend.