USRowing Summer championships

[yeahbuddy]

nonexistent bad weather cancellation

[Remomex]

Seeing that US Rowing may have cancelled racing possibly a bit too early today. What’s the deal ?

Regatta might be too overloaded with events that the schedule can’t shift a bit

Racing suspended at 3:15PM with sunny skies as far as the eyes could see. Next update at 4:30PM full cancellation of afternoon events. It was windy, but there was no storm at the time. They easily could have continued racing for at least a couple of hours.

The people running this regatta are making a mockery of what should be the premier USRowing regatta on the calendar. Imagine if the World Championships were still on and semis were canceled for selection events after the shitshow that was the mid regatta e-mail with LW rule change.

Makes you wonder if USRowing shouldn't just go bankrupt...

[lt.wolf]

I would like to see two regattas

A U19 and U17 regatta held at another time. Running the u17 events earlier in the week

A u-23 and “National Championship” event, running the u23s earlier in the week.

The schedule is too jammed up with no flexibility for practice and a schedule change. There is no need to run races all day, eating up resources staff , volunteers, officials etc.

A full race progression schedule is needed to crown a National Championship. The time trial to semi to final progression is a weak approach.

We want our developing athletes to know what a full progression regatta is , including reps etc

We also want our developing lightweights to make average. The 160 lb weight rule is poor one. Get rid of it.


This week was a tough one for the developing elite / club athlete. The World Championship were cancelled and then events were cancelled too early without to ability to change the schedule.

[lt.wolf]

Oh, I almost forgot

The winner of the U23 events would get an automatic berth into the final of final of the National Championship event. They race in lane 1-7 . If they want a better lane they go through progression

[lt.wolf]

SO no live broadcast today ….come on now.

[Mango]

What a bummer about the cancellation. I’m not there, but understand the fear of severe weather. However, if they knew it was a possibility, the 2 hour lunch break should have maybe been reduced.

I’ve talked about TT’s and open entries over and over again. But it all comes down to regatta experience in exchange for entry fees. None of us here can just go attend a swimming or running national championship by simply paying an entry fee. But my Bette half could enter world championship trials after never having set foot in a boat.

Limit entries per club, this is the national championship. You can’t win the 4- 3 times. Side by side racing. Drop u19 and u17 events. They had their national championships last month.

Too many events. Too many entries. A blip on a radar ruins racing for tons of athletes.

[lt.wolf]

You need the u19 and U17 funds no matter how many times they have to race.

[Mango]

You need the u19 and U17 funds no matter how many times they have to race.

I think USRowing needs to get creative about hosting more events to make up for the Junior revenue, rather than crowing a u19 national champion twice in 4 weeks.

The issue is the NGB’s only plan for increasing revenue is hosting another national championship and figuring out how to shoehorn more entries. Is there not a way to get those juniors racing more in the summer with a summer series that isn’t a national championship?

Just spitballing, coastal/beach sprints seem to be here to stay. Benderson is becoming a focal point for racing. Could we host a rowing/beach sprints event. Triathlon. 4xs only. All age categories. Race Benderson, right into a 5k run to the beach with your 4x (crew not shell) Race the beach sprint.

It’s fun. It starts to bridge the gap between beach sprints/coastal and rowing. It’s inclusive. I don’t know if that idea will work. But there has to be more creativity by our NGB to get people having fun and racing at more events, rather than just jamming everybody into one regatta to pay the bills.

[bz]

USRowing has that already with the ODP program that ended today with the last day of racing in Sarasota.

14 regional camps x 24 athletes per camp x $5995 per camper rakes in $2,024,320!!!

Bill Zack

[rowing]

What are expenses?

I am certain there is profit, but I would be surprised if there is a windfall. Rowing has a way of being just a bit more expensive than the best planners imagine.

[bz]

Their biggest expense was room and board. During the training camp phase the hosting duties were shared by The Bolles School, Jacksonville University, and The Episcopal School of Jacksonville. I think they stayed in hotels when they moved to Sarasota for the racing phase. Many of the coaches were in Airbnb while in Jacksonville. Everybody had to pay their own way to and from Florida, but local transportation was provided from some of the housing locations to the rowing venue. They probably paid the coaches, but I don't know if it was a lot or a little. There is equipment rental fees, but some of the equipment was loaned to USRowing. There was a big chunk of scholarship money for BIPOC attendees, although that amount was subsequently fundraised by the NRF. Overall I think the net income was pretty substantial, but clearly I don't have definitive dollar values on the expense side of the equation.

Bill Zack

[lt.wolf]

Please note that TN is going to fog over in the mornings and will have storms in the evenings. We all know masters can be some dam fussy people when provoked….wink
You get two or three heats of mixed eights cancelled it will be something for me to get my popcorn out and watch ……

[Remomex]

Please note that TN is going to fog over in the mornings

Something the Head of the Hooch organizers seem unable to grasp year after year.

[rowSU]

I would like to see two regattas

A u-23 and “National Championship” event, running the u23s earlier in the week.

What was the reasoning for USRowing to eliminate elite nationals several years back anyways? Why don't we bring that back and set it up with a full on race progression format

[fullmetal]

Not enough attendance to justify the cost. The fixed costs for a regatta are huge, as are difficulties in finding an LOC willing to partner with USRowing and finding an open weekend in the schedule that works with elite rowing calendars (accounting for who's in camps, how close Canadian Henley is, how far away Senior Worlds and U23 Worlds are, scheduling of ODP/HP/JNT camps, etc.)

Cancelling racing is a painful decision. When things can turn bad quickly, evacuating a course full of rowers can't happen quickly enough. The LOC and chief referee collaborate on this decision and must err on the side of safety. Sometimes the weather predictions are wrong...but sometimes they're right.

It does seem difficult to make up for lost U17/U19 revenue at not-club nationals, but I wonder if shortening the regatta by 2-3 days would make up for it. Surely each regatta day incurs a large cost.