Downstream

associations. During the 1838
race, the two heats ‘started
with the discharge of
artillery’, then at half past
three swimmers wearing
different coloured jockey
caps and flannel drawers ran
out of tents on the riverbank
and ‘plunged into the bosom
of father Thames’. It appears
to have become a regular
event. In 1840 the Morning
Herald announced,
‘SPORTING NOVELTIES.