Competing
CRA Events
A number of rowing events are held on the Cam each year, organised by the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association (CRA) or CRA-affiliated clubs. There are also events organised by CUCBC and various colleges, some of which are open to city clubs. These local events offer a convenient way to get racing experience and Cantabs has a significant presence at many of them. Entering a CRA category at such an event allows club members to race without having British Rowing membership.
Please note that you must be a paid-up member of Cantabs before racing! Submit your application and pay membership fees well before race-day. By agreeing to enter a race, you are accepting liability for the associated race fees. Ask your crew co-ordinator for details and pay them promptly when requested.
You may want to buy Cantabs kit for racing, but it is not a requirement for CRA events.
British Rowing Events
British Rowing maintains a national calendar of events which are run under their rules by affiliated clubs. An unofficial but, perhaps more useful calender of events is maintained by David Biddulph. Talk to your squad leader about which events are on the club’s schedule. If you are a British Rowing member, you are welcome to enter any race, but bear in mind that you will need to make suitable transport arrangements you and your boat. If there is no other Cantabs crew planning to race in a particular event, you may want to post on the Cam River Updates Facebook group to ask if anyone else is taking a trailer to the event, but you may also need to approach individual clubs (looking at race results from previous years can give you clues as to which clubs tend to go to particular events).
Please note that you must be a paid-up member of Cantabs before racing! Submit your application and pay membership fees well before race-day. By agreeing to enter a race, you are accepting liability for the associated race fees. Ask your crew co-ordinator for details and pay them promptly when requested.
Race entries for BR events are made via the Cantabs Race Entries Co-Ordinator. All crew members, including the cox, taking part in a British Rowing event must have valid British Rowing Race membership covering the race date (if you renew your membership before the expiry date, the extra days are added to your new membership, so you don’t lose out). You will also need to have Cantabs listed as one of your club affiliations on the British Rowing website in order for the entry to be made. For almost all events, you will only be able to make substitutions to 50% of your crew members after the event’s closing date, so you are strongly advised to select crew members and make sure they have their BR membership set up in good time. It is important that the correct people are listed in the crew for a BR race: please tell the Race Entry Co-ordinator about any changes to your line-up in good time and ask them to send you the ‘Entry Forms’ report listing crew members from BR’s entry system so that you can double-check all is in order.
The person who asks the Race Entries Co-Ordinator to make an entry must be ready to pay the entry fee as soon as their entry is confirmed (or sooner, if requested). Crew co-ordinators are advised to collect their share of the entry fee from individual crew members as early as possible, and certainly before race day.
Evidence of your British Rowing membership may be checked before racing and will often be inspected before any prizes are handed out.
Entering the wrong people in race crews is not acceptable: in recent years this has lead to at least one club being fined, required to issue public apologies and having wins at major events disallowed. If you need to make crew changes that are problematic e.g. too many subs, or changing the crew status, do contact the race organisers and politely explain your problem: they may be able to move you to a different category, or allow you to races as Time Only in a head race.
The British Rowing’s Rules of Racing require rowers to be wearing ‘racing strip’, with a uniform outermost garment worn above the waist (in practice this is usually a Cantabs all-in-one), so make sure all rowers have suitable Cantabs kit.
In addition to BR’s Rules of Racing, you will need to familiarise yourself with any Local Rules specific to the event, and read all the relevant documentation provided by the event organisers.
See the Trailering entry in this handbook for more information about travelling to events.
British Rowing Membership
Race membership of British Rowing provides benefits including:
- A licence to race in British Rowing status events
- Third Party Civil Liability and Personal Accident insurance*
- News and information via the Rowing & Regatta magazine
*Club activities have cover for third party liability via a policy arranged by the CRA. However, there is no personal accident cover for members provided by the club, so members are encouraged to ensure they have suitable cover from BR or elsewhere.
British Rowing provides a number of facilities locally via their Regional Development Officer and the Eastern Region Rowing Council (ERRC). This includes a series of seminars and workshops on various aspects of rowing and coaching. These will often be advertised on the club’s notice-board Facebook page or website or via squad leaders.
We also use the British Rowing coaching certification scheme, and support coaches who wish to train for these qualifications. Coaches are encouraged to maintain BR Coach Membership as this includes public liability insurance, personal accident cover and professional indemnity insurance.
For more information, or to sign up for membership, visit the British Rowing website.
Insurance
The Club holds an insurance policy, which together with a CRA policy, covers
- Loss or Damage to club Boats and Equipment, and
- Liabilities to Third Parties
This includes cover for equipment whilst in transit, but subject to the following:
- no third party cover (the driver’s personal motor insurance must cover this)
- boats must be adequately tied down with strong safety lines or straps; if carrying a boat on a roof rack there must be safety line or strap running from the front of the boat to the tow ring or bumper at the front of the vehicle.
Boats are not insured when left on trestles if they are inadequately secured or left overnight. Trestles must be in a fit state of repair and adequate for the purpose intended. You are encouraged to read at least the “Clauses applicable to Section 1” part of the insurance policy to understand your responsibilities.
Racing categories
Newcomers to rowing racing are often confused by the terminology around race categories. The standard notation may include the following:
- sex of the rowers – Men (M), Women (W)
- age (for junior rowers or masters/veterans) – J13, J14, J15, etc
- level of expertise or racing status – NOV, IM3 etc (see below), or Crew Ranking Index or other criteria
- sculling , denoted by: x
- coxed, denoted by: +
- coxless, denoted by: – or o
British Rowing operates a points system called Personal Ranking Index (PRI). Details are available on the BR website. PRIs are used to calculate the Crew Ranking Index, which may be used to categorise crews. Each competition can chose whether/use how to use PRI/CRI, so read the event’s website for details.
There are also classifications for Masters (previously known as Veterans; see below), Adaptive athletes and more.
Masters events are classified by the lower limit for the average age of the crew (excluding coxswain), each crew member’s age being measured in whole years attained during the current calendar year.
Class | Minimum Average Age |
A | 27 |
B | 36 |
C | 43 |
D | 50 |
E | 55 |
F | 60 |
G | 65 |
H | 70 |
I | 75 |
For more information, see about British Rowing categories, see their Rules of Racing. CRA-affiliated events may have other categories, which should be explained in the entry instructions.