The Head of the Charles was expected to be an Olympic pageant, with some six dozen competitors from the London Games scattered among the boats. Norwegian Kjetil Borch was one of those Olympians, but as a late entry, he was slotted dead last in the 27-boat field for the men’s championship singles.

Borch surprised the field — and himself — threading his way through the course and the boat traffic to win in 17 minutes 56.53 seconds.