The first Erne Head took place in 1957 with seven crews and it has grown since to be the best event of its kind in Ireland.

There are 53 men's eights and 30 women's eights from clubs in all the four provinces expected on the waters of Erne this Saturday.

Enniskillen Royal Boat Club (ERBC) have five crews in the women's events.

The Junior 18 eight will hope to win their section having been a close second last year but there are five other crews with different ideas.

Castleconnel from the River Shannon are probably the main threat but home knowledge of the twisty six-kilometre course could prove decisive.

There are girls Junior 16, 15 and 14 crews also rowing with the latter age group having their first outing on their own water and eager to demonstrate their skills in front of the expected usual good crowd.

The men's race has nine senior crews headed by University College Dublin and Cork who will have come a long way to see how their winter training has gone. 

The boy's Junior 18 event has six entries and the rivalry between St. Joseph's, Galway; St. Michael's , Limerick and ERBC is sure to be a severe test for these well-trained athletes.

The local crew is defending their title but the received wisdom is that there will only be a few seconds separating these crews when the race ends at the boathouse soon after 2.30pm on Saturday.

There are local entries at Junior 18B , J16 (nine crews entered), J15 and J14 and these young tyros will be out to show their true mettle.

An interesting statistic is that there are 12 entries in the Masters category with Portora hoping to prove that age is no barrier. 

A most unusual entry in the Masters has been received from Peterborough Rowing Club on their first visit to the Erne.

For those taking in the rowing the best vantage points to view the 12 ERBC crews is at the Killyhevlin jetty , Stuart's carpark or Enniskillen Castle.

The womens' race begins at 11am and the mens' at 2 pm.