Ivy League officials announced on Friday that the eight Ivy League teams that compete at the EARC Sprints will break off and form their own championship regatta starting in 2019. The new regatta, The Ivy League Championship, will run concurrently in Worcester, MA, at Lake Quinsigamond during EARC Sprints.
"Yale University was the principle driver of this split," stated Yale University heavyweight rowing coach Steve Gladstone. "Our athletic department does not recognize a 'Sprints' championship as being equivalent to an Ivy Championship. So it makes sense for us to have our own championship regatta. Several of the other university administrations have similar views, so the motion passed quite easily."
Another impetus for the change were the similarities between Sprints and the IRA. Brown coach Paul Cooke said, "Sprints has become so large, that it has become redundant to run that regatta, then three weeks later we have basically the same regatta at IRAs with the addition to a few west coast teams."
The new mid-May championship Sunday schedule will now consist of: