A REGATTA which was cancelled for the first time in its 178-year history due to bad weather could be rescheduled for later this year, organisers have said.

The 179th Durham Regatta was due to take place on the River Wear, in Durham, over Saturday and Sunday.

Thousands of rowers were expected to compete and a first-of-its-kind modern recreation of an 1815 parade of boats staged in honour of Waterloo was also planned.

Most crews had travelled to Durham before the first day’s racing was abandoned at daybreak on Saturday – many journeying from around the country or overseas. Day two was called off at 6.30am on Sunday.

Organisers said the high state of the Wear made holding a regatta unsafe.

Today, Nigel Van Zwanenberg, chairman of Durham Regatta, said the event could be rescheduled for later this year but there were difficulties to be addressed.

"It’s a great idea but we’ve got a few problems. If we did it, we’d have to do it pretty soon because many of our entrants are university colleges," he said, knowing Durham University term ends on Friday, June 22.

"If we did it later, it would have to be after the Olympics but when the weather’s good – so we’d be struggling to get the university teams around.

"So, yes, we are considering it but I think we’re going to be pushing it to find a date and time. There’s a calendar of regattas we’d have to fit in with and we’d need permission from British Rowing.

"I think in reality we probably won’t manage it. If we did, it wouldn’t be on the same scale. We couldn’t afford to put on another regatta and it not take place."

Organising the regatta costs several thousand pounds and the cancellation hit the outfit financially, although not sufficiently to put the future of the event in doubt.

Mr Van Zwanenberg said: "It was very disappointing. The financial consequences are very serious indeed. But we have reserves to draw on.

"In 178 years it’s never been cancelled. We will look into insuring it in future."

A decision on whether to reschedule this year’s regatta is expected to be reached later this week.