Events:

Children's. Open to boys and girls ages 9-12 as of race day AND enrolled in the 6th grade. Events are four minutes long and the result (score) is total distance pulled.

Middle School. Open to boys and girls ages 13 – 14 years old as of race day AND enrolled in 8th grade or under on day of race. Distance is 1500 m.

Junior “J15” Event for High School athletes. The Junior 15 event (J15) is for young men and women who turn 15 anytime in the calendar 2024 AND be enrolled in High School or 9th grade as of race day.

High School Flyweight Boys. The flyweight event is for male scholastic athletes at or below 150 lbs. The lightweight event will still exist for weights from 151 lbs to 165 lbs. This Flyweight event is only for the 2000 m event. All other lightweight events are good for all weights up to 165 lbs.

College and Open Events. Except for the college novice category, all college 2000 m events are combined into the Open category. There is a collegiate division in each of the Open events (men, women, heavy and lightweight). All collegiate programs are required to follow NCAA guidelines regarding indoor racing.

Masters. Wehaveeventsforages30-39and40-49(men,women,heavyandlightweight).Agecutoffis based on the day of race.

Veterans. Forathletesage50+(men,women,heavyandlightweight)wewillbeutilizingthehandicap system published later in the race information packet. Age cutoff is based on the day of race.

Novice. Southern Sprints offers novice events. A novice is considered to be any person who has not yet completed one calendar year from the date of their first organized competition on an ergometer, or has not yet completed one calendar year from the date of their first organized competition in either sweep rowing or sculling. A collegiate novice is a competitor who is in their first academic year of intercollegiate competition. Junior scholastic (high school) novice status is restored when rowers who raced in middle school start high school.

Relays. Southern Sprints has both a High school and Open Relay event. Relays are made up of 4-person teams. Men's teams may include women in their lineup. Women's teams may NOT include men in their lineups. Distances rowed are 500 m per person ROWED CONTINUOUSLY for 2000 m total. Only 3 transitions are allowed to occur.

Register for a relay by registering a unique name for a relay 'boat'. We do not need to identify the athletes in teh boat when registering for this event, but the online registration allows for you to add a note for your tracking.

Awards:

• Children's Events: 1st place medals. Certificate for all athletes
• High School, College and Open Events: Medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
• Master and 20 Minute Events: Medals for 1st (3 or fewer entries), 2nd (4 or 5 entries) and
• 3rd (6 or more entries)
• Veteran Events: Medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place based on handicapped score (see Rules -
• Veteran Events)
• Adaptive Events: Awarded for each category, AS TA, LTA as follows: Medals for 1st (3 or fewer
• entries), 2nd (4 or 5 entries) and 3rd (6 or more entries)

Weigh-Ins

Cut-Offs: All athletes entered in Coxswain or lightweight events are required to weigh in. Weight cut-offs are as follows:

• Coxswains: 135 lb. (Men) and 125 lb. (Women)
• Flyweights: 150 lbs (High School Men only)
• All other lightweights: 165 lb (Men) and 135 lb. (Women)

Early Weigh-in. Weigh-in will be open the evening of Saturday February 3th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Clemente center for any lightweight competitors who want to get weighed in. Athletes who make weight at this earlier weigh-in session do not have to weigh in again on race-day.

High Schoolers: Three (3) hour weigh-in cutoff for HS Boys lightweight 2000 m events only. There is a standard one (1) hour cutoff for all other lightweight events including Masters, Veteran, Coxswain, and HS Women events. If you are only racing HS lightweight 2000 m events, you must make weight at least 3 hours in advance of your scheduled race time to allow for proper hydration and eating time. You only have to make weight once for the whole day. Teams and competitors are strongly encouraged to make use of the Saturday weigh in (see above). No off-site pre-weigh ins will be accepted. All weigh-in must take place on-site and be administered by Southern Sprints personnel to be considered official.

Failed Weight: Athletes who do not make weight on their first try will have one more opportunity to comply with the weight specifications for their event. The second weigh-in shall be no closer than 1 hour prior to the start of your scheduled event. A lightweight who fails to make weight in their designated event will have their score rolled automatically into the heavy category.

Medical Information

On-Site medical support. Southern Sprints will have the Melbourne Fire Department, paramedics and emergency rescue medical technicians on site to attend to your medical needs whenever necessary. NOTE: Any member of the medical support staff has the right to remove any athlete for medical reasons before, during or after a race.

Pre-existing medical conditions. Coaches are asked to provide information to the regatta medical staff regarding any potential medical hazards with their athletes before they race. This helps the on-site medical staff better prepare for any medical issues that may arise. Athletes, please don’t forget your inhalers!

Other

Seedings: Events will be seeded once again based on provided 2000 m times. If no seed time is provided, entry will be seated at the end of the race line.

Bullpen. Only athletes who are about to race are allowed in the racing bullpen. Each athlete is allowed only one person to serve as a coxswain while they are racing. That coxswain is only allowed to sit behind the athlete on a non-interference basis to any other competitors. No coaches, coxswains or spectators are allowed in the front of the machines. Coxswains who are deemed to be interfering with other athletes will be asked to leave the bullpen.

Coxswains. Competitor must primarily be a coxswain. Competitors must weigh-in.
Erg Damper Setting. Competitors may use the vent setting of their choice, but it may not be changed during the race.

Warm-Up Ergs. We will have approximately 24-36 warm up ergs available to athletes.

No Heats to Finals progression. A “flights only” format with the best time in the event will be declared the winner. Note that many events may have multiple time slots to accommodate all entries. Medals will be awarded based on the top fastest times of the given event.

Changes to Entries / Late Entries: Any scratches or corrections for an individual entry or group roster entry can be made on race day at the venue. Any new athletes will be registered the day of race. See Costs and Waivers earlier in this document.

Team Tents. No Tents shall be erected on any sidewalk in front of the Clemente Center.

Points Competition

High School Events. Points are awarded to all high school events with the exception of coxswain’s events. Pointsareawardedaccordingtothefollowingtable.Therearetwotrophies- oneisawardedtothe Club receiving the highest number of points and similarly and the other trophy is for the top High School team.

Adaptive Events. Points for adaptive events are awarded according to the following table. There is a points trophy.

All events. In addition, the number of places that are assigned points will be weighted based on the number of finishers in that particular event according to the following table.

Veterans Handicap System:

All veterans over the age of 50 will receive a handicapped score. Based on the athlete’s birthday, time is deducted from the raw score using the following methodology:

As an example, a 73 year old competitor would have a handicap of 70+3*5 = 85 seconds.