Exactly 40 years ago, some 50 doughty individuals took part in the inaugural Long Distance Sculls at Wallingford, writes John Wiggins.

They raced upstream over six kilometres from Moulsford to Wallingford Marina, the site of what is now the grandiose Oxford Uni-versity boathouse.

The event has grown over the years and it has varied in length.

But is now firmly set at 4250m and raced in two divisions with a third division for younger crews raced over 1500m.

The winning times are nearly half that taken by your new correspondent who had the honour of winning the junior ‘fibreglass’ single scull on that grey afternoon back in October 1974.

Last Saturday, the sun shone, the stream was slight and the wind favourable. No wonder that several records tumbled.

With an entry of 565 boats and 1,000 scullers, there are now more events to contest than there were competitors in 1974.

Eleven of these categories were won by scullers on their home water – eight for the host club, Wallingford ,and a further three for Oxford University representatives.

Two were Oxford University women’s scullers and the third a member of the lightweight men’s squad, Nephthys.

Six of the Wallingford victories were courtesy of the strong women’s squad winning in doubles, quads and singles.

The two male victories came from the endeavours of older hands, Mike Edge (Masters E) in a new best time and Sean Morris (Masters G) and record holder from 2011.

These two have been winning Masters events here for the past 15 and 20 years respectively.

Looking ahead, Wallingford RC will start as the lead boat at the Pairs Head of the River on the London Tideway this Saturday.

Oxford University lightweight women, City of Oxford, Oxford Academicals, Falcon RC, Radley College and Abingdon RC also feature in the armada of more than 500 pairs and doubles.