Should College Club rowers race shorter distances?

[Remomex]

“2k relays? 4 pairs race a 2k in the same lane. That would be wild.”

...

There are tons of things that can be done to make rowing interesting. Rowing is boring AF to watch for 99% of people.

It's boring AF for me and I'm their coach, but rowing races are for the competitors, not for the public.

If you want to entertain the public, go into a performance art. As you rightly point out, amateur sports are for the competitors.

Or at least, they used to be...

[gamestop]

There is plenty of evidence that racing 2k is exciting, and plenty of demoralizing rowing experiences abound, particularly for newcomers, that have nothing to do with racing 2k.

If a club's leadership is forcing an overly arduous training plan built solely around 2k racing, regardless of commitment level, scope of program, etc., then that is a failure of the club leadership. Smart coaches/clubs adjust, and know how to spice things up when needed, and how to set appropriate measuring sticks.

I'm all for races that break the mold (Canley Dash anyone?), an upstart coach with a creative idea could probably get a scrimmage off the ground, but lets not act like having 2000m as a standard racing distance is the problem.

[fullmetal]

If collegiate clubs want to race 1km, they can enter any old master's regatta in the open division and give it a try. But given the number of USA Olympians who have come out of the club ranks, we should never dissuade collegiate club rowers from training to their full potential.

And we're not moving women's races back to 1km either.