Saturday, July 6, was Barham Cup Day, and first things first: just how do you spell Barham? It feels like it ought to have an 'e' in the middle.

I arrived at the Sand Quay around 6pm to find a group of yellow T-shirted 'regatta' girls under a black awning, organising the rowers' registration queue.

There was also a bell-ringing town crier I wasn't expecting and lots of happy people settling into prime river beach spots to watch what promised to be an exciting evening's relay rowing race; 17 teams taking on the challenge.

Next to find were the start and finish lines and where the crews changed over.