Crews sometimes question the fairness of the course at Reading Amateur Regatta and assumptions are made that one racing station is favourable over the other due to the staggered start.
The race start may be staggered to take account of stream conditions on the day. Stream conditions typically cause the Oxfordshire race station (following more or less a line in the centre of the river) to have an advantage vs the Berkshire race station which is much closer to the bank. The stagger is set to account for this advantage.

The results from previous years racing have been analysed and show that between 2008 and 2012, from 865 races, 50.5% (437) were won on the Berkshire station and 49.5% (428) were won on Oxfordshire.