RegattaCentral

Athlete Classification

Junior participants may compete in the U19 category until December 31 of the year of his or her 18th birthday or if they were enrolled in a secondary school during the current calendar year.

u14 participants may compete in the U14 category until December 31 of the year of his or her 13th birthday.

u16 participants may compete in the U16 category until December 31 of the year of his or her 15th birthday.

Participation in Open events is unrestricted.

Novice participants may not have competed in a race on or before September 23, 2016. A novice coxswain does not also need to be a novice rower and vis versa if they have recenlty switched disciplines.

Freshman participants must be enrolled in 9th grade (or lower) in a secondary school. Participants that are repeating 9th grade are not eligible unless they are also novice.

Participation in Open events is unrestricted.

Masters participants should enter the appropriate event based on age as of race day. The AA category will not be recognized at this regatta.

Teams are responsible for determining their own athletes' eligibility. If a team is found to be racing ineligible athletes, the entry in question will be disqualified and and all other entries from that team in the same event will be excluded. If steps were taken, either intentional or through negligence, to obscure an athlete's eligibility, then harsh sanctions will be placed on that team. These include possible removal from the regatta without any consideration of a refund, and exclusion from subsequent years' events.

u14 and Rec participants will compete over a shortened course of 3000 meters.

Handicapping

Results for masters races will be grouped into similar age categories (A, B, C, D, etc.) if sufficient entries exist to justify doing so. No time handicaps will be applied within or across flights. The Head of the Merrimack regatta committee does not beleive an algorithm can be used to accurately account for the effects of time and age on an athlete's ability to move a boat. Rather, we will leave that determination to the individual athletes when evaluating the quality of their performance relative to their competitiors on race day.

Entry Confirmation and Race Schedule

Entry confirmation will be posted on RegattaCentral in real-time. A preliminary heat sheet will be provided to coaches by September 20, 2017 at midnight PST.

Results

Unofficial results with finish times will be posted as quickly as they are available at the hospitality tent. Complete Official Results will be up on the Essex Rowing, RegattaCentral, and Row2k websites within 48 hours after the conclusion of racing.

Interpretation of Rules

The meaning and application of these rules will be determined solely by the Regatta Director. All decisions and deliberations will be secret, arbitrary, and final.