{"id":10578,"date":"2012-04-12T18:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T23:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=10578"},"modified":"2022-02-07T07:29:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:29:12","slug":"no-water-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/no-water-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"No Water Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Henley Royal Regatta<\/a> is perhaps the most famous boat race in the world. It takes takes place each year along a particularly straight segment of the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames, England (map<\/a>). This huge sporting event features world-class competition and serves as a primary attraction in the summer social season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Henley<\/a>
Henley Royal Regatta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The regatta revels in superlatives. It involves huge crowds of spectators, several days of exciting races and upwards of two hundred individual competitions. International athletes of Olympics quality row for glory upon the waters of the Thames. No prize tops the Grand Challenge Cup<\/a>. The winner of the men’s eights race wins the Cup, a tradition dating back to 1839.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more attention will be placed on the Henley Royal Regatta today. I’m only interested in it tangentially. It helps one understand the context of my primary interest. Simply bear in mind the prestige of that the regatta on the River Thames. It is remarkable both for its level of sporting competition and its placement in high-society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henley-on-Todd?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So now let’s jump to the middle the Australian Outback, to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It’s dry, it’s remote and it doesn’t attract boatloads of Olympians searching for racing glory. I’m pretty sure that English high-society doesn’t include this on its annual circuit of social events either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless I’m certain the residents here consider it a perfectly fine place and will survive regardless. How should a town respond to this situation? By mocking it of course. That definitely earns a Twelve Mile Circle seal of approval. In that spirit, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta<\/a> arose in 1962 and has been repeated every year thereafter for half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Henley-on-Todd<\/a>
Henley-on-Todd Regatta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Todd River<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alice Springs substitutes for Henley-on-Thames and the Todd River (map<\/a>) replaces the River Thames. The Todd River? Most of the time it’s a dry riverbed. The Australian Government’s Bureau of Meteorology<\/a> describes it as a 50 kilometre stream that receives 260 milimetres (about 10 inches) of rain each year. However, most of that water falls in spurts. So while the Todd may rage from time-to-time it’s usually bone dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n