RACING SEASONS OF ROWING

Unlike many sports, rowing is a year-round activity with four distinct seasons. This can be a source of confusion to the uninitiated. A variety of competitions have evolved to fit the weather and training patterns of each season – each as much traditional as is practical.

SPRING – If there is a “main” rowing season, the Spring sprint season is it. Training starts in February, but beginning in March crews throughout the rowing world compete in short-course races of distances between 1500 and 2000 meters. Sprint races range from dual competitions to races where six crews square off simultaneously. The season culminates in league championships in mid-to-late May and early June – regattas which bring together dozens of crews all competing for the coveted national championship.

Spring races typically take between 5.5 to 6.5 minutes for the swiftest crews – hardly a “sprint” in the track and field sense of the word. During the sprint races, athletes are pushed to their absolute limit by racing at cadences that can exceed 50 strokes-per-minute in the start and sprint.

SUMMER – The summer season finds clubs filled with collegiate and high school rowers searching for places to row, and a variety of summer regattas have been created to meet this need. Summer races generally follow the same 2000- meter format as spring races, although the world’s most famous and most prestigious regatta, the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England races of a course of one and five-sixteenth miles. Summer is also the season for a large number of

The summer season is to club rowing what the Spring season is to collegiate and high school rowing. The summer season also features the World Championships, held each year in late August and early September, and the summer Olympic games every four years (both of which are 2000 meter races).

FALL – Fall season offers a different sort of racing from the Spring and Summer sprints. The Fall “head racing” season (from early September through early November) features races of lengths between 2.5 and 4 miles.

Besides being much longer than the Spring sprints, Fall “head races” differ in a number of ways. “Head races are run against the clock, with crews beginning the race in 15-second intervals. Under this format, an unlimited number of crews can race at once. The race courses usually feature turns which gives coxswains a chance to show off their skills (or lack thereof). Since crews are paced only a few lengths apart, fall racing offers the opportunity for a trailing crew to overtake and pass a slower crew – as exciting for the challenger as it is depressing for the challenged.

WINTER – As rivers freeze in the northern regions and weather becomes too miserable to row outdoors, crews turn to indoor training to stay in shape and prepare for the spring season. The most common training tool is the Ergometer, which is an indoor rowing machine that helps measure a rower’s strength and stamina. The Winter season culminates in the 2000 meter erg springs (called Ergomania in the Seattle area, held in early February).

(Editor’s Note: This article was created by combining a variety of sources, the origins of which have unfortunately been lost).