The other strange race at Alice springs is the Henley-on-Todd Regatta. The name comes from a famous bost race at Henley-on-Thames in England.But there's one big difference. There's always water in the Thames-but the Todd River in Alice Springs is nearly always dry. They use boats without a bottom and teams of people run along the river bed, carrying their boats with them. lf there's a lot of rain, the race doesn't take place because there's too much water in therriver