 Excluding tidal mudflats and sandbanks, it is the most downstream island purely on the Thames itself (as the Isle of Sheppey, Canvey Island and two nearby islets in the estuary are co-fed by creeks and in the case of Sheppey by complex mouths of the Medway).It is beside The Championship Course and marks the approximate half-way point of The Boat Races (OUBC versus CUBC Men's and Women's first eights (1st 8+s) races) and the country's international Head of the River Race among others.A green pole stands on one end used for timings by rowers of that course, at the southwest, church end of the island.