Racing at the 121st IRA Regatta starts Friday morning on Mercer Lake, and comes with a twist this year: no repechage round.

With the change, the top three crews in the 1V, 2V and 3V Heavyweight Men's heats will go straight to the A/B semis to stay in the hunt for medals and the Championship, while the bottom three go directly to the C/D semis.

For more on what to look for in those heats and the other championship races, check out the "What to Know" section below.

How to Watch

Friday will feature heats for Heavyweight Men, Lightweight Men, Division III Men, and both the time trial and semis for the Varsity and Light Men's Fours.

Racing for the Women's Lightweight national title starts on Saturday. You can go here to see the full three-day schedule, and first round lane assignments.

Live Video

• Friday, 8:00 AM - Heats for HWTs, LWT Men, & DIII Men & Men's Fours Time Trial
• Friday, 4:30 PM - Men's Fours Semis
• Saturday, 8:00 AM - Heats for LWT Women, Semis for HWTs, Finals for Men's Fours and DIII Men
• Sunday, 8:00 AM - Finals for HWTs, LWT Women & LWT Men

• Results
• Three Day Schedule, with Lanes

You can find more helpful info, to include ticket purchase info and directions for getting to Mercer Lake to watch in person on our IRA Resources page.

For folks catching the results on their phones, the timing folks tell us you can turn the phone sideways to display the real-time splits. The mobile version of the timing website will switch the view to include splits and lineups if you put your phone on its side. Be sure to click into the individual race to access the feature.

What to Know

Finally, some storylines we will be tracking in our coverage of the 121st IRA this weekend:

• Upset Watch? without the Repechages this year, the 12-13 match up in Heat 4 of each HWT event will be the prime place to catch an upset, so keep your eye on #12 Cornell vs #13 Stanford in the 1V8, #12 Cornell vs #13 Columbia in the 2V8, and #12 Navy vs #13 Penn in the 3V8--and that one, with just four boats, will be a race to avoid being last.
• No Heavy Favorites? with none of the HWT varsity eights coming in undefeated, there would seem on paper at least to be no clear favorite. Washington is the top seed, having recovered from an early season loss to Harvard by beating Cal twice, and Brown earned the #2 seed by pipping then-unbeaten Princeton by 0.081 seconds at Sprints.
• Running the Table? In contrast to the heavies, all the other championships feature a crew with a perfect record: the Harvard Light Men, the Wesleyan DIII Men, and the Princeton Light Women--who will be the only defending IRA champ with a top seed this year.
• Splitting the Points? This could be a year where the racing is tight enough that the V8 winner and the points champions could be split. At Sprints, the Princeton Heavies and Penn Lights won the Rowe and Jope Cups without winning the 1V, and the Light Women's trophy could come down whether BU can stay ahead in the four and double, which they did at Women's Sprints to take the team by a single point from 1V winner Princeton.