UPDATED FRIDAY PM FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE

Before reading our full preview below, breaking news late Friday afternoon is that Saturday racing will now start at noon due to rain and storms forecast overnight.

Here is a statement from the IRA Commissioner:

"Camden County government has notified us of an expected serious weather event overnight. The County will drain the River in preparation. They will refill the River in the morning. Our Saturday schedule is pushed back 4 hours. This includes the scheduled morning practice time. Practice will start at 10:15 and end at 11:15. Racing will start at 12:00 and end at 4:20. There will be no afternoon practice."

A revised Saturday schedule can be found here, and at the links below.

The IRA Regatta returns to the Cooper River for the first time since 2012 for its 122nd edition, and racing gets going Friday at 8:00 am EST.

The four National Championships up for grabs will feature a "Round Three" showdown between #1 Cal and #2 Washington in the Heavy Men's Eight after the two split their meetings this year, two undefeated Lightweight teams looking to repeat in the Harvard Light Men and Princeton Light Women, and a chance for #1 Trinity to cap its perfect season with its first IRA D3 Men's Championships,

How to Watch

Friday will feature heats for Heavyweight Men, Lightweight Men, D3 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

A subscription is required to watch the racing, so you might want to sign up in advance with the provider using one of the links below before you tune-in. All times Eastern.

• Friday, 8:00 AM - Heats for HWTs, LWT Men, & D3 Men & All Men's Fours Time Trials
• Friday, 3:30 PM - Men's Fours Semis
• Saturday, 12:00 PM - Heats for LWT Women, Semis for HWTs, Finals for Men's Fours and D3 Men
• Sunday, 8:00 AM - Finals for HWTs, LWT Women & LWT Men

Results & Schedule

• Live Results, at Regatta Timing
• Online Schedule, at Regatta Timing
• 2025 Saturday Heat Sheet revised 5/30 - racing starts 12pm Saturday
• Three Day Schedule, with Lanes*

*revised Wednesday 5/29 for Lwt Men redraw; see note below

If you think you really know your rowing, you can show your stuff in the row2k 2025 IRA Championships Pick 'Em competition. Entries close at midnight on May 29, 2025 (PDT).

Tickets are not required this year to watch the racing in person, and you can find more helpful info on getting to Cooper River Park 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 122nd IRA this weekend:

• No Second Chances - this will be year two of the IRA's new 'no Repechage' format--a trend even World Rowing has adopted--which means that the racing Friday morning will set up the AB (and CD) Semis straight away. Only the top three crews stay in the medal hunt, and if you're looking to catch an upset, keep your eye on the #12 v #13 matchups in the fourth heat of each HWT event--all of which involve Wisconsin on one side or the other: #12 Wisconsin vs #13 Boston University in the 1V8, #12 BU vs #13 Wisconsin in the 2V8, and #12 Cornell vs #13 Wisconsin in the 3V8--and that one, with just four boats, will be a race to avoid being last.
• Best Two Out of Three? With Washington winning round one at the Dual, and Cal returning the favor at the MPSF Championship, the IRA Grand could be the tie-breaker in 2025's chapter of the long rivalry between the Bears and the Huskies. A win by California will tie them with UW for 20 titles overall, while UW is chasing IRA #21, and the chance to pull one win closer to Cornell, who collected their 25th in 1982.
• Or a Three Seed Spoiler? Harvard, the Sprints Champ this year for the first time since 2014, will be hoping to play east coast spoiler from the 3-seed slot--and perhaps worth noting that the Crimson's IRA taper last year saw them beat their seed by five spots to take the silver.
• D3's New Kings Trinity will roll in atop the D3 table--and look to be just the third team to take a D3 IRA win, joining Williams and Wesleyan. The last run of championships for the Bantams ended in 2008, well before the IRA introduced the Caldwell Cup for the D3 Men's Championship. In the brief four year history of the event, fifteen different D3 school's have earned bids, and this year Colby and Marietta will make their debuts in the D3 Championship.
• Running it Back - Both Lightweight championships feature a crew with a perfect record looking to repeat: the Harvard Light Men and the Princeton Light Women. Each could win a tenth title, and Princeton could match the longest win streak in their event at five years in a row--a mark shared by Stanford and, well, Princeton, circa 1999-2003.
• Redraw for Light Men - [ed. note: this information added 5/30] a revised Three-Day Schedule dropped on Wednesday 5/29, re-drawing the Light Men's heats after the Cornell Light Men announced they would not be attending the IRA. The Cornell entries were withdrawn by the school administration for an issue that occurred during university-sponsored travel earlier in the season. Princeton now becomes the 2 seed in the 1V event, and MIT and Columbia move into the Harvard heat, while Penn and Navy move into the Princeton heat. The heats remain three to advance.

Who will go home with the pile of hard-earned laundry this year?