As the rowing world watched one event after another join the ranks of CANCELLED regattas, many held out hope for high school and junior rowing, which are not affected by shutdowns and shelter in place in quite the same way as are institutions that rely on boarding folks such as universities and even national team training efforts.
Certainly training and rowing together is affected, but with young people mostly still living at home, it was possible to imagine a bunch of high school kids getting together in a month or two, logging a dozen practices, and giving it a go, with a championship on the line or not. Sort of like rowing a "First Flick" to salvage a spring - for, go figure, the fun of it.
That hope was largely dashed today as the entire USRowing Youth series, including Youth Nationals, was cancelled midday. About an hour earlier, the NEIRA Regatta was cancelled (noting that the NEIRA Regatta in fact is affected by issues regarding boarding students in a way that not all junior regattas are), as were the various Philadelphia races (Stotesbury, City Championships, the last Flick standing) earlier this week.
A short time later, the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association cancelled the 775th Annual Championship Regatta which was to be held June 5-7.
See the full USRowing release below.
Some organizations still held out hope that some racing might still happen, mostly 'pickup' in nature, but with Massachusetts public schools announcing they have extended homeschooling until May 4, and teachers in many places are starting to talk to students about the possibility of not returning to school this year, it is hard to imagine.
We are doing our best to keep up with all the cancellations and postponements in our calendar, please let us know if we need to mark your regattas as cancelled, and if you are rescheduling for fall as well as 2021 and beyond, you can input them here.
USRowing Announces Cancellation of Spring Youth Series Events including Youth Regionals, U17/U15 Nationals and Youth Nationals Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, USRowing is announcing the cancellation of all of our USRowing Youth Series events through June including the USRowing-owned Youth Regional Championships, USRowing West Coast Scholastic Championships, USRowing Youth National Championships and USRowing Under 17/Under 15 National Championships.
While we understand that this decision is disappointing to our athletes and youth programs, our first priority is the health and well-being of our athletes, coaches, referees, volunteers, regatta organizers, local organizing committees and our communities at large.
While our spring racing season has been canceled, USRowing is hopeful that our summer racing season can move forward. Currently, the USRowing National Championships scheduled for July 14-19 on the Cooper River in Camden County, N.J., is slated to take place as planned. USRowing also is looking at additional summer racing opportunities, as well as some spring virtual racing opportunities, to provide to our members. We will be reaching out to our member organizations to discuss these options, and more information will be announced as it becomes available.
In the meantime, USRowing will be providing members-only webinars on a daily basis. Please check our
website and social media platforms regularly for a list of upcoming webinars and additional resources.
We want to thank all of the individuals working on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic for everything they are doing to keep us healthy and safe, and we look forward to the chance to get back on the water this summer.
The following is a list of Youth Series events that have been canceled:
- USRowing Youth National Championships
- USRowing Under 17/Under 15 National Championships
- USRowing Central Youth Championships
- USRowing Mid-Atlantic Youth Championships
- USRowing Northeast Youth Championships
- USRowing Northwest Youth Championships
- USRowing Southeast Youth Championships
- USRowing Southwest Youth Championships
- USRowing West Coast Scholastic Championships