RegattaCentral

We would like to welcome you to the Fourth Annual Midwest Masters Sprints. We appreciate your interest in this

regatta and all of your support making it feasible to continue an annual spring Midwest Regatta. The goals set for

this regatta by the Midwest Masters Group are 1) to build a greater sense of community among Midwest rowers

and 2) to improve our overall competitiveness. Since this is a USRowing registered regatta, we encourage all

participants join USRowing prior to this regatta, see http://www.usrowing.org to join.

All of the registration for this year’s regatta will be done on-line through RegattaCentral, www.regattacentral.com.

The entry window will be open from Thursday, April 20, 2006 through midnight Friday, May 26, 2006. If you do

not have internet access please contact the registration coordinator, Deb Stoner ([email protected]) at

614-777-8751 to assist you with registration.

v 950m Sprint race course on Griggs Reservoir, with stake boat start

v 34 flights are planned. All flights are a final.

v Singles, doubles, pairs, quads, fours and eights events

v Masters, including allowance for AA participants in boats averaging at least 27, lightweight,novice/recreational events

v Medals awarded for first, second, and third place finishers in all flights in a medals ceremony after thelast event.

v Strict parking requirements. Please take the time to review included maps.

v Web page for Midwest Masters Regatta

v Buoyed course

v Continued awarding of annual Points Trophy

General regatta information: www.columbusrowing.org/regattas/midwestmasterssprints

View and submit entries: www.regattacentral.com

Please review and complete the following materials carefully. All entries must be made through RegattaCentral

by midnight on Friday, May 26, 2006.

GCRA looks forward to hosting your crew at the Midwest Masters Sprints!

Very truly yours,

2006 Midwest Masters Sprints Regatta Committee

In order to be able to host the regatta this year and the viability of future regattas on Griggs Reservoir the

following special rules will need to be adhered to strictly by all, participants, coaches, and fans:

No parking on the grass or in non-designated lots. No vehicles, including trailers shall be parked on the grass or

in parking lots other than those designated for the regatta. After dropping off gear and competitors, passenger

vehicles will be required to move to a remote parking lot. There is no fee to park in the lots; however, there will

NOT be a shuttle bus. Please see the attached site map for location of the remote parking lots and directions.

Competitors are encouraged to drop off gear, including coolers, bags, etc., before moving cars to the remote lots.

There will be no observation of races from the bridge. No standing on the Fishinger Road Bridge is permitted.

Please help us keep the park clean. Trash bags will be included with your race day packet. Please keep all areas

of the park clean and dispose of all trash, litter or waste properly. This is critical to future regattas on the

Reservoir. Violations of any of the above rules will negatively affect GCRA’s ability host this and other regattas in

future years.

This year, we are excited to make our first attempt at a recycling program. We’ll be providing more details at the

coaches / cox meeting.

Rowers rowing in these events should be either novice rowers (defined below) or rowers who row for fun and

occasionally race, but have no intention of competing at Masters Nationals or other highly competitive regattas.

Typically, these crews practice no more than two to three times a week.

Any rower who will have attained age 27 on or before December 31, 2006, may enter masters events. An age

handicap system will be implemented in any flight where more than one age class of rowers is competing. Any

rower who will have attained the age of twenty-one on or before December 31, 2006 is also considered a masters

rower for the purposes of this regatta, but all boats must average at least 27 years of age. All boats will be

classified according to the average age of all the rowers in the boat for handicap purposes. Any master's entrant

failing to indicate a birth date on the entry form will be entered as a 21-year-old competitor. The above

notwithstanding, a single sculler who will have attained the age of twenty-one on or before December 31, 2006 is

considered a masters rower for the purposes of this regatta and can row in masters singles events even though

his or her boat will not average twenty-seven years. There will be negative handicaps instituted for any such

rower in a singles event.

Men 160 lbs. individual maximum

Women 130 lbs. individual maximum

Weigh-ins will take place at the Registration Area from 7:00am to 10:00am. Lightweights only need to weigh in

once, even if they are rowing multiple races throughout the day.

United States Rowing Association Rules of Racing shall apply, unless otherwise noted.

Hot seating (of equipment or personnel) will be performed at the crew's risk of missing an event. A crew needing

to hot-seat rowers or equipment should let the dockmaster know prior to launching. Flights will not be delayed

due to hot-seating.

Bow Numbers must be used. Crews are responsible for bringing their own bow numbers to the regatta. This race

will have up to five lanes so each crew should have a sufficient number of bow numbers for all its races. Bow

balls and quick release foot stretchers are required on all shells.

An initial schedule of events and times is attached. A final schedule will be provided on the website after the

registration window closes and will be available on race day. We will make every effort to run the races as listed

in the final schedule and therefore, if boats arrive late at the starting line after all of the boats in their flight have

started, they will not be allowed to race the course. “Hot-seating” of rowers, coxswains, and/or boats that delays

the start time of a race will not be permitted. As a guideline, rowers, coxswains or boats should have at least 40

minutes between races to ensure that they will make it to the starting line on time.

Race Day check-in will occur at the race site on Saturday, June 3, 2006 from 6:00 - 8:30 am.

The coaches' and coxswains' meeting shall be held race day at the registration area at the course at 7:00 a.m. A

race schedule, a map of the course and general rules will be included in competitor registration packages.

Shell trailer storage the night before the regatta must be arranged. To make prior arrangements, please contact:

Competitors wishing to practice Friday may do so if they follow these instructions:

v We have very strict traffic patterns on the Reservoir that must be followed. If any crew wishes to practice on thecourse on Friday evening, please contact:

v No rowing is permitted after sundown on Friday night (9:01 p.m.) or before sunrise on Saturday morning (6:02a.m.).

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals will the given in every flight. Anyone interested in donating trophies for theevent, please contact our Regatta Director:

EVERY participant who does not have a 2006 waiver on file with USRowing must turn in a signed waiver form

(attached). USRowing members who have faxed their waiver to USRA HQ and who have added theirUSRowing ID #’s to their roster on RegattaCentral do not need to submit separate waivers for this regatta. Ifyou have not faxed a waiver to USRowing, please do so to enable paperless waivers for subsequent USRowingregisteredregattas this year.The waivers will be checked against your RegattaCentral entries, which is a time-consuming process. Submissionof all waivers and entry fees by mail prior to the race is preferred by the Registration coordinator as this willreduce race day delays. Any fees or waivers not received prior to race day should be brought to registration areawell in advance of the close of registration and shall be sorted into male and female piles and each pile should beorganized alphabetically to assist the registration staff.As previously stated, RegattaCentral will accept entries through midnight on Friday, May 26, 2006. After thatdate, entries will be viewable only. Please contact Deb Stoner for any scratches after that date([email protected])Each scheduled flight will include up to five boats. Slots will be filled according to the following criteria: 1) Oneboat per event from each club registering on a first come first served basis until all slots are filled, 2) Empty slotswill be filled by a club’s second boat on a first come first served basis and so on. Therefore, you may not be ableto race more than one boat in an event. When registering, please designate your entries in order of preference(A, B, C) so that if some boats have to be scratched to allow all clubs to participate we scratch your lowerpreference boat(s) first. We will try to accommodate as many entries as possible given the lane constraints andtime constraints of the regatta. We will let you know as soon as possible after the entry deadline what boats havemade it in to what events. Refund will be made for any entries we have to scratch due to time constraints.

Eights: $70

Quads/Fours: $55

Doubles/Pairs: $35

Singles: $25

4166 Goldthread Court

Hilliard, Ohio 43026

Phone (614) 777-8751

[email protected]