The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Regatta, traveling for the first time to the west coast for the 2009 regatta, has established new rule changes for the Rancho Cordova venue. In keeping with international standards for large, season-ending collegiate rowing competitions, the IRA Regatta has announced an "open alcohol" policy that will supersede all local blue laws, wherever the IRA may be held in any given year, thereby allowing all participating universities free rein in gettin' the party started.
"You look at the University Boat Race in South Africa, the Boat Race in the GB, some of the Australian University and High School events and that crazy-ass regatta in the Netherlands where everyone ends up in the water by the end, those crews are clearly having more fun than we are," said Gary Caldwell, Director of the IRA's board of Stewards. "Our racing speed is more than up to snuff, compared to international standards, so we felt that it was right that we loosened up a little bit on the land side of things."
Interestingly enough, the NCAA Championship regatta will remain unaffected. Although liberalizing the "fun factor" at the NCAA Rowing Champs was an agenda item at the most recent NCAA Championship Subcommittee Caucus meeting, too much of the meeting was given over to a discussion over whether to dock Southern Southwest Arizona State University one or two scholarships for a recruiting violation in Men's Volleyball, and the motion to examine the NCAA Regatta was tabled until 2011.
Thus far, universities have embraced the new openness of the IRA, with few dissenting voices. The only real hurdle that has developed is a logistical one, with both Wisconsin and MIT athletic and alumni groups moving early to book nearly all of the available greenway space for their beer tents.
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04/01/2009 11:31:31 AM
04/01/2009 8:25:44 AM
Although, before they passed open container laws, the IRA in Liverpool NY was a huge party with thousands of people. It would be nice to have some spectators beyond parents at the IRA.