2019 World Indoor Rowing Championship

On February 24, 2019, the 2^nd FISA World Rowing Indoor Championship was held along with the inaugural USRowing Indoor Rowing Championship at California State University Long Beach in Long Beach, California. The event was held in the University’s Walter Pyramid Arena which is located just 3 km from the historic 1932 Olympic Rowing stadium. 726 athletes from 35 countries competed in the combined World Rowing and USRowing Indoor Championships.

Concept 2 has conducted the World Rowing Indoor Championship for many years, however in 2017 Concept 2 and FISA entered into an agreement to transition the Championship from Concept 2 to FISA. 2019 marked the second year of this transition. During the transition period, the event is being combined with other events, this year with the USRowing Indoor Championship and in 2020 with the French Indoor Championship in Paris France. Realizing the importance of indoor rowing, FISA has set up a working group to develop not only the Indoor Championship but also the future of indoor rowing as a part of FISA.

Combined races for both the FISA World Championship and USRowing National Championship were held over 2,000 meter in the PR1, PR2, PR3, Senior, Senior Lightweight, U23, U23 Lightweight, U19 and Masters events. The Masters categories for Indoor are different than the normal Masters categories (details can be found in FISA Rulebook Appendix 24 Section 11). Additionally there were USRowing National Championship in self classified Para-Rowing and 500 meter Sprints. Other races were rowed in the 2,000 meter Team Relay and 1000 meter 2x and 4x on sliders.

The World Rowing Indoor Championship was governed by the FISA Rules of Racing and the Indoor Rowing Competition Regulations found in Appendix 24 of the FISA Rule book. As with other event regulations, Appendix 24 describes the departures from the normal Rules of Racing. If there is not a specific item in the Indoor Event Regulations, then the normal rules apply.

The race venue was set up on a basketball court with 2 rows of 20 rowing machines in each row facing the grandstands on one side of the court and 2 rows of 14 rowing machines facing the grandstands on the other side of the court. All of the rowing machines facing one side were connected together and all of the machines on the other side were connected together. The two sides could be operated independently of each other. The race control software was furnished and operated by Concept 2 (a simple version is available for free on the Concept 2 website). 70 warm up rowing machines were under the grandstands on one side of the arena and athlete weighing was under the grandstands on another side.

Since the World Rowing Indoor Championship was run with the USRowing National Championships, the same Jury was used for both the USRowing and FISA events. The Jury was composed of FISA Umpires selected by USRowing for their Indoor Rowing Championships and was supported by USA National Umpires. Due to the nature of the event, the Jury is smaller than the normal Jury that is selected for a conventional World Rowing Championship with 5 ITO’s supported by 8 NTO’s.

The roles for the Jury were:

– President of the Jury (ITO)

– Starters (2 ITOs)

– Control Commission (1 ITO and 3 NTO)

– Race Umpires (1 ITO and 2 NTO)

– Timing Assistance (1 NTO)

– Anti-Doping Control/Race Umpire (2 NTO + FISA Commission Member)

In the Control Commission, the ITO and 1 of the NTO’s worked at athlete weigh-in. The normal procedures were used for the athlete weigh-in. The weigh-in window opening at 2 hours before the scheduled race time and closing 1 hour before the scheduled race time. Athletes racing in more than one event had to weigh-in for each event. Per Appendix 24 Indoor Rules, the maximum weights for lightweights was 75kg for men and 61.5kg for women.

At approximately 10 minutes for before the scheduled race time, 1 of the Control Commission NTO’s gathered the competitors at the edge of the race floor. When the race announcer introduced the event, the athletes were allowed to go to their assigned machines. For the senior events, the announcer introduced the top seeded competitors as they entered the race floor while the lights overhead flashed multiple colors and music played.

Each competitor was allowed one Coach to accompany them onto the race floor. The coach could stand behind the athlete during the race but could not touch the rowing machine or the rower during the race. For the PR3 vision impaired athletes the coach was allowed to stand beside the athlete to verbally inform the athlete the progress of the race.

There was one starter for each side of the floor who stood in front of the rowing machines. At approximately one minute before the race time, the Starter instructed the competitors on their side of the floor to stop rowing. When all the flywheels had stopped moving and all of the competitors were sitting ready to race, the Starter gave a “thumbs up” signal to the timing technicians. The timing technicians then started the start commands and the race. The start commands were displayed on the rowing machine monitors in front of each athlete.

The job of the Race Umpires was to observe the race to make sure that no competitor received any assistance from their coach or suffered from any interference from another rower. The Race Umpires stood at the end of each row of rowing machines in order to have the best view of the athletes and not to interfere with the spectator’s view of racing. After the start of the race, the Starter also served as a Race Umpire. At the conclusion of the race, the Race Umpires observed that there were no objections raised by the athletes.

Anti-Doping testing was conducted by the USA Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). For this event, most of the athletes selected for testing were selected based on the final ranking (e.g. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places). The FISA Umpiring Commission member worked with the Anti-Doping chaperones and NTO’s to identify the selected rowers. The chaperones were introduced to the selected athletes at the end of the race on the race floor just after the athlete finished the race.

2 large display boards showed the progress of the races. Multiple video cameras were used to show competitors during the race. The video was displayed in the area on a large screen and also streamed over the internet.

The World Rowing Indoor Championship is an exciting new event that is opening the sport of rowing up to new audiences and non-traditional rowing athletes. It promises to continue to evolve and develop in the future as it moves to Paris, France, in February 2020.

Pictures and videos of the 2019 Long Beach World Rowing Indoor Championship are available at www.worldrowing.com

2019 World Indoor Rowing Championships

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