Overview The Head Of The Charles is a three-day rowing regatta on a 3-mile stretch of the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, and in 2024 it put more than 300 Olympians and Paralympians on the water in the same weekend as rowers aged 10 to 92. The course runs past the Harvard, MIT and BU campuses and through seven bridges and a run of sharp turns to a finish in Allston and Brighton. The 2024 field was 11,750 athletes from 828 clubs, 42 states and 28 countries, with a gender-balanced entry. The regatta calls itself Boston's second-largest sporting event. It is a registered name of the Cambridge Boat Club, and 2,400 volunteers across 30 committees worked the 2024 regatta. On site Spectators line the riverbanks and the bridges, and the hospitality sits at fixed points on the course. The Directors' Tent beside the Cambridge Boat Club looks onto the Eliot Bridge turn, the last bridge of the race, and seats about 350 guests a day; a single partner can take over the whole tent. Upstream, the Eliot Bridge Enclosure sits in the middle of the rowing expo with 400 to 700 guests a day, reserved tables and semi-private suites for 50. At the finish, the FALS Bar is free and open to the public next to the awards area and draws more than 5,000 people a day. Reunion Village, across from JFK Park at Harvard, is historically one of the busiest viewing spots on the river. No single-use plastic water bottles are sold on site. Audience Most of the crowd comes from out of town: in the regatta's 2024 on-site survey, 70% had traveled to Boston for it and about half of those stayed in hotels. It is a fit crowd as well as a watching one, with 90% saying they work out at least once a week. Many are rowers themselves, from college programs, masters crews and youth clubs, and the volunteers come back too: three in four return year after year, some traveling from across the country. Talent and Influencers More than 100 Olympians from the Paris 2024 Games raced in 2024, among 300-plus Olympians and Paralympians from 17 Olympic cycles, and the regatta says no event outside the Olympics hosts more. The same year added the regatta's first 90-and-over singles category and an exhibition row by 99 cancer survivors from the Survivor Rowing Network. Track record D'Arcy MacMahon, Howard McIntyre and Jack Vincent founded it in 1965 to be "fun to work on, fun to compete in, and fun for the communities it passed through." The 60th edition ran in October 2025. In 2024, mobile location data counted 326,000 unique visitors over the three days, and a McKinsey model put the economic impact at $119 million; the YouTube livestream drew more than 290,000 views. In July 2025 the regatta added the Boston Beach Sprints at Carson Beach, coastal rowing in the format going into the LA 2028 Olympics. Brand presence Partners are sold in four tiers, from a presenting partner down to patron, and most carry an official designation, such as an official financial services partner, an official airline or an official beer. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation was a partner from the first regatta in 1965. Below the tiers sit the rowing expo with 28 rowing product exhibitors, food concessions and sport partners from Boston's pro teams. Brands can buy into the existing hospitality or build their own riverside experience for customers and staff, and the charity program gives nonprofits activation space and waived entry fees.