There was something of a ‘love thy neighbour’ air about the record entry in the Isis Sculls last Saturday.

The entry was predominantly local, the organising club City of Oxford heading the list of big entries with 31 start places.

The healthiness of local sculling, particularly at the youngster level was revealed with 26 entries from Hinksey, 17 from Abingdon School, 15 from the Dragon School, and ten from Radley College, the majority in the junior classes.

One slight hiccup occurred when some Radley competitors, who were sculling up river from their boathouse to compete, were held up in a lock and missed the start of their scheduled third racing division.

The organisers allowed a ‘mini-division’ to be held for the Radley athletes before the start of the fourth division.

City of Oxford had the lion’s share of success with 14 wins, Hinksey managed six and Abingdon notched up four.

Westminster School, from Putney with 17 competitors, had the largest non-local entry and excelled in the men’s singles.

There will be a larger cosmopolitan involvement in the 574-boat Wallingford Sculls this Saturday.

This is the 36th running of the popular 4,000 metre contest which has over the years attracted many of the country’s top international performers.

Singles, doubles and quads will race in two divisions, at noon and at 3.30pm.