Great news for masters rowers! This year, 4 masters rowing races are being included at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Penrith, March 23 to 29. These will be sprint races over 500 meters: a men’s and a women’s quad, and a men’s and a women’s eight. These are open to all masters rowers, so now is the time to get your crews organised and the training started.
The inclusion of masters races in the Open Championship Regatta, follows a number of initiatives put in place through the Masters Commission over the last couple of years. The accuracy of the revised handicaps, introduced in 2013, was tested in the new Club 8 events run for the first time at the 2016 AMRC regatta, with very exciting finishes involving crews from C to G categories crossing the line within fractions of a second of each other. The sprint races in March will test the handicaps for shorter events, and provide for more exciting finishes.

Another issue progressed last year was a survey of masters rowers on preferred locations and rotation strategies for AMRC regattas. The outcome was a proposal for a rotation strategy that included a return to Penrith each 4 years. The RA Board will consider this rotation strategy as part of the National Event Strategy review.
Information about the Masters Commission is set out on the Rowing Australia website under governance, together with minutes from the monthly teleconference meetings. If there is something you would like the Masters Commission to address over the coming year, contact the ACT representative on the Commission, Susan Linacre at sjlinacre@gmail.com.

Sue Linacre