How the 2018 World Rowing Masters Regatta played out

The regatta saw 445 races taking place, competed by nearly 2000 athletes. From the individual men’s and women’s age groups to the mixed events, there were just over 9000 seats filled by participants from 48 countries. Not surprisingly, the country with the highest amount of rowers was the United States, with 1313 rowers attending. There was also many entries from nations in South America and Europe as well.

In the scorching Florida late-summer heat, the 445 races were all finals with rowers grouped by those nearest in age. The men’s E single sculls (55 years or older) had the most entries with 12 finals being raced. The fastest overall was Joel Griffith from River City Rowing Club in Sacramento, USA. Griffith’s time was 3:45.

For the women the C and D double sculls were the best represented. Both had six finals. The C double (43 years or older) was won by Karen Wiegandt and Laura Corbett who are Sarasota locals rowing for Sarasota Scullers.

The D double (50 years or older) was won by Jennifer Huffman and Charlotte Hollings a combined USA crew from Seattle and Calm Waters Rowing. Hollings raced on the US national team from 1985 to 1994, winning a World Championship title in 1994 in the lightweight women’s four.

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The youngest age to be a masters rower is 27 with age groups starting there and going through to 89-year-olds. To see the results click here.

There were 19 new members to the Octogenarian Active Rowers Society (OARS). This society celebrates active rowers 80 years of age and older. Within this group, the oldest competitor of the regatta was Odilon Maia Martins from Brazil. Maia Martins is impressively still rowing at the age of 89 within the new M age category (89 years and over).    

By the start of the third day it was clear which club would win the World Rowing Club Trophy Award for the women’s event. However it was still a close call for the men’s category. For the women Chinook Performance Racing (USA composite rowing club) took home the trophy by having nearly 1000 points over the runner up. Towards the end of Saturday it was becoming clear who would win the men’s trophy. Chinook Performance Racing managed to hold onto their lead over Occoquan Boat Club (Virginia, USA) to take home the men’s Club Trophy Award.

The Chinook Racing Performance club, with their 95 attending rowers, will happily be returning home with both Club Trophy Awards.

This year sees the stepping down of current Masters Rowing Commission Chair, Tone Pahle (Norway) who will be replaced by Ronald Chen from the United States, in 2019. This will be leading into the new year ahead of the 2019 World Rowing Masters Regatta that will be taking place on Lake Velence in Hungary.

We look forward to seeing you there between the 11-15 September 2019.