Merrimack River, Lowell, Mass.

LAUNCH SITES

There will be two launch locations for the event.

Location 1 (Primary Dock Launching Area)

Bellegarde Boathouse

500 Pawtucket Boulevard
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854

Location 2 (Beach wet launching area):

Rynne Bath House

157 Pawtucket Boulevard
Lowell, Massachusetts 01854

PARKING

No Trailers or other Vehicles are allowed to park on the grass. 

ALL trailers will need to provide contact informatioon to Registration in the case that the trailer needs to be moved. 

Additional cones can be provided to ensure safe distance between trailers and other vehicles. 

Boat Trailer Parking

Allowed in the parking lot next to the boathouse, and along the the river side of Pawtucket Boulevard from where there is a full breakdown lane after the Rourke Bridge, all the way down past the beach launch site.

Small Parent or Team Equipment Trailers

Allowed along the river side of Pawtucket Boulevard. These trailers should NOT block any team's access to the boats on their trailers.

Spectator Parking

All parking for spectators, coaches and parents will be across the street from the Boulevard in Renee Welcome Field.

The entrance to the parking lot will be right before the Dunkin Donuts entrance.

The cost for parking is $20 per car, per day. 

We realize that there is limited parking at our venue and sometimes the main parking lot fills up and requires spectators to park over a mile away from the boathouse. To help keep the area safe and reduce the volume of cars, we want to encourage people to carpool whenever possible.

Why we collect Parking Entry Fees:

This money is crucial for the races to continue in Lowell. It costs a significant amount of money to run a Regatta. We pay for permits, safety personell (police, firefighters/divers, EMS, etc...), Referees, Insurance, Safety Equipment, among other things to ensure that we can put on a safe and fair event for rowers that travel from all across the Northeast. 

The fee helps supplement registration fees in order to keep entry fee costs lower for all teams. It provides necessary updates to the Racecourse, Regatta Equipement, Safety Launches, and helps support the local programs that work to put on these races every year. 

Bus Parking

Buses should park in the large corporate parking lot found down the street past the Market Basket and Lowell Public Works building. The lot is found across from the Rourke Boat Ramp at the set of lights after Old Ferry Rd. 

Buses should not park on any grass, as to prevent the bus from getting stuck in mud. 

RACE COURSE DETAILS

• The course is a 2,000 meter, 6-lane, fully-buoyed course with floating stakeboats.
  • The course's start is 1250 Meters up river from the Boathouse.
  • The flow of the river goes from West to East, ending 750 Meters down river from the Bellegarde boathouse. 

• Lane Numbers go from 1 to 6 with lane 1 starting on the Boathouse/North side of the river and lane 6 on the Railroad/South side of the river.

• The Travel/Warmup Lane is between the first buoyed lane line and the Boathouse/North side of the river.
  • The travel lane is separated from the race course by a fully buoyed line (0/1).
  • This travel lane allows passing down river of the Rourke Bridge and is single file Upriver from the bridge.
  • Orange Buoys will warn you of any potential hazards along shore (shallow water, hidden logs, rocks, etc...). 

• There are small buoys every 10 meters for lane lines separating lanes 0/1, 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7. The remaining lane lines have small buoys every 20 meters to help differentiate which lane a crew or referee is in. 
  • The first 100M of the course will have smaller red can buoys to distinguish Breakage from the rest of the course.
  • The buoys from 100 Meters through 1750 meters are white.
  • The buoys from 1750 Meters through 1900 Meters are Yellow to notify the crews that they are in  the remaining 250 meters of the racecourse.
  • The buoys from 1900 Meters to the Finishline are Red to notify the crews that they are in the Remaining 100 meters of the racecource.

• There are medium sized buoys placed at various intervals from the starting line.
  • The start line is just past the stakeboats and will contain either medium green or no larger buoys. 
  • At 100 meters from start will be medium Red buoys transitioning the smaller Red buoys to White buoys. This is the point where the Breakage zone ends. 
  • 500 meters from the start is marked with medium Green Buoys.
  • 1000, 1500, and 1750 meters from the start are marked with medium Yellow Buoys
    • After the 1750 Meter point, the smaller white buoys will transition to yellow.
  • 1900 meters from the start is marked with medium sized Red Buoys.
    •  After the 1900 Meter Point, the smaller yellow buoys will transition to red.
  • Finish Line will be marked with larger Red Buoys to signify the finishline.