All races are held over the full Henley Course on the River Thames. The length of the Course is one mile 550 yards (2,112 metres) – upstream.

All races are rowed two abreast and the winner proceeds to the next round.

The Draw takes place at 3.00 p.m. on the Saturday before the Regatta in the Town Hall in Henley-on-Thames. In the Draw, in each heat, the first crew drawn has the No. 1 station – the Berks. station.

Traditionally the Committee has 'selected' certain crews in the Draw for a number of the events. The purpose of this is to achieve the fairest and most satisfactory racing programme. Crews may be 'selected' because they are considered to be the fastest in their event or in order to keep apart overseas crews from the same Club or Country or for other similar reasons. This means that ‘selection’ is not the same as ‘seeding’!

The Draw will be posted on the Regatta website on the evening of Saturday 29th June.

The Regatta will be raced over five days. The first rounds of the Thames, Temple, Princess Elizabeth, Wyfold, Britannia, Prince Albert and Fawley Challenge Cups will begin racing on Wednesday 3rd July. The racing timetable for the Wednesday will be posted on the Regatta website on the afternoon of Sunday 30th June.

The first rounds of all other events will begin racing on Thursday 4th or Friday 5th July.