2024 SRAA® Regatta

Racing will be conducted under the USRowing, “Rules of Racing” and the SRAA® Rules

• The SRAA® National Championship regatta is an invitational regatta and will always be held on Friday & Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
• The SRAA® Regatta is a USRowing registered regatta.
• Invitations to this regatta are open to qualified crews of any public or private school given to the education of youth.
• A national scholastic institution must certify the status of the school.
• Students must be working toward a diploma.
• All schools wishing to enter must be approved to compete in their state’s public league championship regatta.
• Composite teams are NOT ALLOWED to race at SRAA®.
• No team will be allowed to compete with rowers from more than one public high school or one private high school.  SRAA® will follow the 50% substitution rule.  The crew’s lineup that qualified the boat for the SRAA® Championship can only substitute up to 50% of the lineup that races at the SRAA® Championship.
• A school may only qualify one boat per event category.

USRowing Organizational Membership

• USRowing requires all participating organizations (high schools) and individuals to be USRowing members at registered regattas*.
• USRowing membership applications are posted on the USRowing website.

*Exception: Schools with singles and/or doubles only are exempt from the USRowing organizational membership requirement. However, all individuals in exempt schools must be individual members of USRowing.

Qualifying

• Crews will be invited based on their performance at a qualifying championship.
• The qualifying championship regattas are:

1. Florida State Championship
2. Midwest Championship
3. Garden State Scholastic Championship
4. New York State Scholastic Championship
5. Philadelphia City Championship
6. Virginia State Championship
7. Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Rowing Association
8. West Coast Scholastics

• All teams must qualify at their local qualifying championship or petition for At-Large Bids.
• At-Large Bid petitions will be accepted from crews placing below the automatic selection criteria in their championship regatta, however, priority for At-Large Bid petitions will be given to crews that are not from one of the qualifying championship areas.
• In addition, any Automatic Qualifying Entries not used  from the qualifying regattas will go into the At-Large Bid category; they do not pass down to the next place crew in the qualifying regatta.
• SRAA® follows the 50% substitution rule.  The crew’s lineup that qualified the boat for the SRAA® Championship can only substitute up to 50% of the lineup that races at the SRAA® Championship.  
• A school may only  qualify one boat per event Category.
• The qualifying championship regatta directors must supply the order of finish for their events to the SRAA®.

Events- Boys & Girls

**At-Large Bid petitions will be accepted from crews placing below the automatic selection criteria in their championship regatta, however, priority for At-Large Bid petitions will be given to crews that are not from one of the qualifying championship areas.

• In addition, any automatic entries not used from the qualifying regattas will go into the At-Large Bid category.  
• The qualifying regatta directors must supply the order of finish for their events to the SRAA®.

*Second Varsity boats will only be allowed if the Varsity 8 Qualifies and accepts their automatic bid. Your second boat must qualify as well. 

** At-Large Bids are for schools:

1. Who do not compete in one of the above named qualifying regattas (priority) And/or
2. Who do not qualify for automatic selection at one of the above named championship regattas.

SRAA® Regatta Rules

1. Racing will be conducted under the current edition of USRowing “Rules of Racing” and the SRAA® Rules.
2. Schools who have not submitted the Master Roster by the April 15th deadline, may not compete at the SRAA® Championship.
3. Athletes who have not completed the Lightweight Certification by the April 15th deadline, will be ineligible to compete as a Lightweight at the SRAA® Championship.
4. The Executive Board of the SRAA® reserves the right to request the removal of any person or persons from the regatta site for unsportsmanlike conduct or breaking of the rules. Removal from the site may lead to a ban of that person or persons from future regattas as determined by the Executive Board.
5. Access to the racecourse by anyone other than race officials or safety personnel is prohibited. Exception to this rule would be for a credentialed member of the press or VIP approved by at least two members of the Executive Board of the SRAA®. Notification of this exception must be provided to the Chief Referee prior to access to the racecourse.
6. All questions of eligibility, qualification, or interpretations of any rule shall be referred to the Chief Referee whose decision shall be made in coordination with the SRAA® Executive Committee. This decision shall be final and not subject to appeal.
7. All decisions of the SRAA® Race Jury with respect to protests, objections or appeals shall be final and binding, and not subject to appeal to any outside agency or organization.
8. All races shall be a distance of 1500 meters.
9. No movable outriggers.
10. Rowers and coxswains are only allowed to row in one event.

Athletic Eligibility Limitation

1. Eligibility is assigned to students in their freshman through senior year (grades 9 through 12).
2. Each athlete has four consecutive years (eight consecutive semesters) of eligibility beginning in September of their freshman year (9th grade).
3. A rower or coxswain cannot have reached his or her 19th birthday prior to September 1st of that academic year.
4. After eight consecutive semesters, a student will have completed his/her athletic eligibility and may no longer participate in the SRAA® Regatta.
5. The four consecutive year rule (eight consecutive semesters) begins with the student’s initial enrollment in the 9th grade.
6. Postgraduates or (Canadian/US) fifth year students are not permitted.
7. Lightweight rowers must be certified by a licensed athletic trainer who submits the information online, by the posted deadline, in order to be eligible to compete.

Objections

• Objections  must be registered on the water in accordance with USRowing rules.
• To address objections, an informal pre-hearing will be held by a specially designated ombudsman official as soon as the crews have returned to the dock.
• This ombudsman will act only as a moderator and will attempt to resolve the potential objection(s) in a way mutually agreeable to the protesting crew, any other crews involved and the official most directly involved.
• If no mutually agreeable resolution can be arranged within a reasonable period of time or if it seems necessary to consult additional witnesses, the objecting team will then submit its formal protest to the Chief Referee.  The Chief Referee will convene the jury  as soon as possible.
• The formal protest, written by a member of the racing crew, must be submitted to the Chief Referee or his designee by a member of the crew.  The protest statement should follow the USRowing Rules of Racing, citing the reason for the protest, the USRowing or SRAA® rule(s) being cited and the remedy the crew seeks.
• The protest must be accompanied by a $50.00 fee, paid in cash, and will be returned if the protest is upheld.
• Disposition of the protest will follow the USRowing Rules of Racing.
• In accordance with SRAA® rules and with the approval of the Chief Executive Officer of USRowing, Rule 2-608, “Appeal from the Jury and Grievance Procedure” as described in the Chief Executive Officer Procedures Manual is superseded. All decisions of the SRAA® Race Jury with respect to protests, objections and/or appeals shall be final and binding, and not subject to appeal to any outside agency or organization.

SRAA® Progressions

We will use the following Progressions system for all events except Sr. 8’s and Sr. 4’s.

Entries                 Heats              Advancing/Heat              Semi                    Advancing to Finals

1-6                       1                         race for lanes               0                         (all boats)

7                          2                          (all but last)                     0                          (five boat final)

8-12                     2                          (3)                                    0                          

13-15                   3                          (2)                                    0

16-18                   3                          (4)                                    2                          (3)

19-24                   4                          (3)                                    2                          (3)

25-36                   6                          (2)                                    2                          (3)

SRAA® Progression system for the Senior 8’s and Senior 4’s.

Progressions for Senior 8’s and Senior 4’s Events with 31-36 entries will have 6 heats.

Heats  

• 1st and 2nd place will go straight to semifinals
• 3rd and 4th place will go to repechage
• 5th and 6th place will be eliminated

Repechage (2 reps of 6 boats each)

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will go to semifinals
• 4th, 5th, and 6th will be eliminated

Semi Finals (3 semis of 6 boats each)

• 1st and 2nd place will go to the Grand final
• 3rd and 4th place will go to the Petite final
• 5th and 6th place will be eliminated

Progressions for Senior 8’s and Senior 4’s Events with 25-30 entries or less will have 6 heats.

Heats

• 1st place will go straight to semifinals
• 2nd and 3rd place will go to repechage
• Remainder eliminated.

Repechage (2 reps of 6 boats each)

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will go to semifinals
• 4th, 5th, and 6th will be eliminated

Semi Finals (2 semis of 6 boats each)

• 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will go to the Grand final
• 4th, 5th and 6th place will go to the Petite final

Progressions for Senior 8’s and Senior 4’s Events with fewer than 24 entries will follow the progressions for all other SRAA Events posted at the top of this page.

Inclement Weather Procedure

The Scholastic Rowing Association of America®, Chief Referee, and the LOC will work together to monitor the weather continuously during the event. Should it be determined that schedule changes are necessary due to weather concerns, the following weather plan will be utilized:

1.Unable to run races Friday and Saturday:
Cancel Regatta.

2.Unable to run races Friday – Run races on Saturday:

Run Friday’s schedule as a time trial with top 6 times in each event going to finals.

3.Unable to run races Saturday – Use results from races on Friday:
Award medals to the top three times of Friday’s races.

4.Limited racing on Friday and Saturday:
Run all heats with the top 6 times going to the final.

5.Limited racing on Friday but full racing on Saturday:

Finish Friday schedule on Saturday with top 6 times going to the final.

6.Full schedule on Friday but limited on Saturday:
Run all heats with the top 6 times going to the final.

In the event scenario 1 to 6 cannot be implemented, the Regatta Committee reserves the right to select events starting with Varsity events that can be run depending on time, weather and safety.

Communication Plan

Weather-related schedule changes will be announced by:  

1.  Send blast email to all teams.
2. Post online at www.sraa.net and on Regatta Central
3. Update on the SRAA® App
4. Post on Social Media

**Teams are responsible for staying up to date on announced schedule changes.

Please direct any questions about schedule changes to the SRAA® at the finish line.**

Awards

Medals and shields will be presented to each member of the winning crews and award plaques to the winning schools.

• Medals will be given to second and third place finishers in events with six or more entries.
• Earle P. Baltz Memorial Trophy will be presented to the winner of the Men’s Senior Single.
• Matthew Ledwith Memorial Trophy will be presented to the winner of the Women’s Senior Single.