Each club, member of coaching staff, and athlete, acknowledges that Canadian Rules of racing apply to The Brown Cup and that, so far as relevant, the Brown Cup and Campbell-Dowd Cup Race will be conducted in conformity with those rules and regulations.

RULES OF THE RACE

1. Racing on Brown Cup day is limited exclusively to the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.  

2. The conduct of the Race shall be the sole responsibility of the Umpire.

3. The umpire will have a meeting with coxswains and coaches at least 120 minutes before the start of the first race.

4. Each coin toss will be conducted at each tale of the tape. A member of each crew from the losing team of the previous year will make the call for the coin toss.

5. The Umpire shall be responsible for positioning of crews at the start.

6. Each crew shall be at the start line five minutes before the official start time of their Race: lateness renders a crew liable to the award of a False Start from the Umpire. If, once the Umpire has commenced the starting sequence, he considers that there has been a False Start he shall at once recall the crews to the start line and shall award a False Start to the offending crew. A crew with two False Starts shall be disqualified.

7. The Umpire shall be the sole judge of a boat’s proper course based on the established golden line of the course. They must warn either or both crews when he considers a crew is leaving their station and that there is danger of a foul occurring, or if there is any obstruction on the course, but they shall not otherwise direct the steering of either crew.

8. Both boats shall pass through their own side of the centre arches of all bridges on both the Fraser River and Gorge courses.

9. A boat failing to to approach a bridge square does so at its peril in the event of a foul occurring* This applies specifically to the Trestle Bridge in Victoria and the Moray Bridge in Richmond.

10. It shall be considered a foul, when after the race has started, there shall be any physical contact between the oars, boats, or persons, of the two crews.

11. A crew that is on course to cross the golden line will be given an immediate verbal warning by loud hailer. In the event both crews are converging on the golden line the umpire will warn the crew most off course first.

12. When a crew is warned they will be expected to immediately move away from the golden line. Refusal to abide by the decision of the Umpire, or to follow his instructions, shall render a crew liable to disqualification.

13. In the event of a foul occurring, either crew may claim, to the Umpire, that the other crew be disqualified. If the crew making the claim was in its proper course, and the crew against whom the claim is made was out of its proper course, the latter shall be disqualified unless the foul was so slight as not to influence the race. In this case the crew against who the claim was made shall only be disqualified if, in the opinion of the Umpire, it has seriously or deliberately encroached on the course of the crew making the claim.

14. In the event of a serious or deliberate foul the Umpire shall disqualify the offending crew without waiting for a claim. They may do this at once or at any later time up to or immediately after the end of the race. (Note: This means that they may delay his decision, either in the interests of safety, or to see whether a foul has, in fact, influenced the result of the race).

15. The crews shall abide by their accidents. But the Umpire may declare “No Race”, and order a restart, or a re row.

16. In the event of a collision in which the Umpire can not determine an offender. The Umpire may immediately stop the race and order a restart from the point of the collision with the appropriate spacing awarded to the crew that was leading at the time of the collision.

17. If either crew is interfered with by any outside agency to such an extent as to influence the result of the race the Umpire may stop the race and restart from the place of interference one the outside agency has been removed and the course made clear.

KEY TERMS

STATION - A crew's station is any water up to the centre line of the agreed upon course. In Victoria, stations are named Victoria and Esquimalt stations. In Richmond the stations are named Richmond and YVR stations.​

THE GOLDEN LINE – Is the agreed upon line from the start of the race to the finish that will safely allow the two racing crews, while side by side, to clear all navigation hazards. The following umpire will endeavour to drive this line from the start to the finish of the race.

BRIDGES - All coxies will enter the trestle bridge as square on the bridges as possible and guide their crews through on their own half of the bridge.   

PROPER COURSE – A boat's proper course is rowing on their station.

DISQUALIFICATION – If a crew impedes the progress of the other crew in a way that affects the outcome of the race the crew risks disqualification.