As at Jan 2023
Responsible at your club for regatta entries? A few of these tips might help you in your role.
These tips should be read in conjunction with Rowing ACT By laws and Guidelines on the Grading System. Both can be found on Rowing ACT website. If you have questions please contact the Rowing ACT Executive Officer or Rowing ACT Regatta Secretary.
Registrations
When do I need to have my rowers registered?
You cannot enter a rower into a Rowing ACT event unless they are registered.
Registration requires rowers to sign off Rowing Australia/Rowing Australia terms and conditions. T&Cs are automatically emailed to rowers email address provided in their registration. Failure to sign off on T&C can cause rowers to be missed in entries.
A rower has rowed for a school or another club. Do they need a transfer?
Yes and No – Registrations are Australia wide and rowers can only register for one school and one club. A transfer will be needed if your rower has ever registered as:
- a club rower in another state
- a club rower in the ACT, or
- a school rower interstate.
When your new rower registers for the first time, if they have a profile with another club or interstate school, the registration will come to Rowing ACT to review. Rowing ACT will advise you of the rower’s previous history. If the transfer is from a club to a club, you submit a transfer using your page of Rowing Manager. If the transfer is from an interstate school Rowing ACT needs to the losing state to process the transfer.
Transfers can take some time if losing clubs do not process their transfers quickly so don’t leave it too long to process new registrations.
Close of Entries
When do entries close for regattas?
Entries for regattas and events close at midday on the prior Monday.
Missed an entry
I’ve missed an entry or made a mistake what do I do as entries have closed?
WTT, CP and HoM – see late entries below
Grade, ACT Champs and HoL – Entries can be missed when clubs are trying to process many entries. If you miss an entry after close of entries let the regatta secretary know as soon as you pick up the error. We will try to accommodate the errors or missed entries if the regatta secretary is notified before Monday 5pm. The draw is in progress and changes can be made but there is no guarantee. After this time the draw goes to Chief BRO for checking that it meets their logistic requirements and new races cannot be added.
You will be required to submit a late entry through Rowing Manager. This is a control to make sure clubs are taking responsibility for their entries and seat fees are collected if the entry is accepted.
Draws and Race Orders
When do draws go up?
WTT, CP and HoM – the aim is have the race order on the Rowing ACT regatta calendar by Thursday 11am. This isn’t always possible for various reasons but it is our aim.
Grade, ACT Champs & HoL – we aim for Tuesday afternoon.
Posting of draws will not be delayed unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Chief BRO needs to know the length of the regatta to schedule BROS. The host club needs to be aware of the start and finish time to arrange volunteers. Clubs need to know race times to arrange their logistics.
Late Entries
When can I do late entries?
WTT, CP, and HoM – there is no official time and date for close of late entries.
If you have missed an entry contact the regatta secretary immediately you pick up a missed entry and we will try to add it but there is no guarantee.
Once the handicapping is done and bow numbers allocated it is too late to add late entries. As a guide any received after Wednesday 5pm is too late.
Grade, ACT Champs and HoL – late entries are those between Monday noon and Thursday noon.
Late entries can only be accepted if a re-draw of the event is not required. If divisions or all heats are full new races cannot be added. New races will not be added to the draw once the draw have gone up on Tuesday. If new races were added it would mean race times would change and this is confusing for rowers, parents, coaches, BROs and spectators.
In addition, some races are seeded and where there are multiple divisions rowers may not be able to allocated into a division suitable for their standard.
The draw with late entries goes up Thursday afternoon.
Substitutions and Withdrawals
How do I do substitutions and withdrawals?
WTT, CP and HOM – email the regatta secretary as soon as changes are known. These are handicapped events and handicaps may change. If a change of crew which improves its assessed standard after the draw has been published a new handicap may be determined and applied after the event is if it is practicable.
Grade ACT Champs & HoL – these can be submitted through Rowing Manager until late Friday evening before the regatta. On regatta day you will still need to use the old method of texting. This is because the IT file that manages the entries will be in use processing regatta results.
NOTE: All regatta the rule that only 50% of a crew can be replaced applies to all Rowing ACT regattas and fines will be imposed for non-compliance
Grade Scores – Current
Rowers keep asking me what their grades scores are. Can they check their own scores?
Yes they can. Rowers can search for grades scores on the Rowing ACT website on the regatta calendar page.
Grade score change automatically after each regatta. Grade scores change for grade events only so not age type races such as masters, under age, school year or para races.
Refer to By laws 14, 15 and 16 for more information on grade scores. The By laws can be found on Rowing ACT website.
Grade Scores – Change
A rower wants their grade score changed. What do I do?
WTT, CP, HoM, HoL and most ACT Champs events are not grade score regattas.
Grade Regattas – Grade scores cannot be changed after close of entries.
As crews grade scores are an average of their individual members grade scores, a change to a grade score for one rower after close of entries may make them ineligible if they are entered in another race. They will then be eliminated from the draw and clubs will have to find substitutions and becomes time consuming for clubs.
It is recommended that any grade scores that you request to be changed – either up or down- are submitted to the regatta secretary by Sunday afternoon at the latest before close of entries on the following day.
It is up to clubs to provide a reason as to why a rower should be regraded. Reasons must be timed based. Please refer to the guidelines for time for each grade for each class of boat for men and women that is on Rowing ACT website when considering your request.
Racing Interstate – Grade Scores
I’m entering rowers in interstate grade races. What grades are applied?
All states in Australia use a grade system except Tasmania. In developing our grade system all states grades systems were reviewed and our grades are set to be transferable to other states.
It most common for ACT rowers to race in grade regattas NSW grade regattas. Rowing ACT grades apply for those regattas. Interstate rowing bodies cannot change Rowing ACT grade scores. They must be done with a submission from you to Rowing ACT Regatta Secretary.
If you have a rower considering a re-grade make sure they are aware that Rowing ACT races are over 1000m and 1800m. At Penrith, Rowing NSW only races over 1000m and 2000m in grade regattas so a jump in a Rowing ACT grade could mean you will have to race 2000m at a Rowing NSW regattas.
My club needs a site at the Regatta Park:
If your club wants to have trailers, tents or boats at the regatta site at Weston Park on the day of the regatta, you or someone from your will need to fill out the form linked on the following page by 12pm Thursday prior the Saturday of the regatta:
Weston Park Regatta Site Bookings
Rowing ACT will send out the site map to all clubs who fill out the form on the Friday prior to the regatta.
Finally – Any More Volunteers?
Having read all this you will have seen that most of the effort to organize and run our regattas is done by volunteers. You are a volunteer doing the regatta secretary role. Thank you for doing this task. Rowing ACT is always looking for people to help with our regattas. If you have people who will help send them our way.