Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation, is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
A head race is a time-trial competition in the sport of rowing. Head races are typically held in the fall, winter and spring seasons. These events draw many athletes as well as observers. In this form of racing, rowers race against the clock where the crew or rower completing the course in the shortest time in their age, ability and boat-class category is deemed the winner.
The United States Rowing Association, commonly known as USRowing, is the national governing body for the sport of Rowing in the United States. It serves to promote the sport on all levels of competition, including the selection and training of those athletes who represent the US at international level.
Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
Lightweight rowing is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".
Hampton School Boat Club (HSBC) is the rowing club of Hampton School. Each year the club produces 1st VIIIs that compete at Championship level in the United Kingdom. The club hosts two Head race events each year.
Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters, universities and high performance.
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open weight rowing. It is the direct successor to the Rowing Association of American Colleges, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, which operated from 1870–1894.
PLU Crew is the varsity rowing program for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. The team was founded in 1964 as a joint program with University of Puget Sound. Today the team consists of Men's and Women's programs for both Varsity and Novice rowers, and competes as a member of the Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference (NCRC) and Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA).
Walton Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club, on the River Thames in England. Its large, modern, combined club and boat house is on the Surrey bank of the Thames, facing the Walton Mile straight, at Walton-on-Thames about 400 metres (1,300 ft) above Sunbury Lock cut. The club organises several rowing events, and members have competed at international level.
Maidenhead Rowing Club is a rowing club, on the River Thames in England at Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Micah Boyd is a male crew rower who qualified for the eight-man rowing competition of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competing for the United States.
Monmouth Rowing Club is located on the banks of the River Wye in Monmouth, the county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The club is affiliated with the Welsh Amateur Rowing Association (WARA) and hosts several annually organised race events.
Cantabrigian Rowing Club, known as Cantabs, is a 'town' rowing and sculling club in Cambridge, UK.
The University of Oregon Rowing Team is located in Eugene, Oregon, and practices at Dexter Reservoir nearby. The team was founded in 1967 and has operated continuously under the guidance of the University. At Oregon, men's and women's teams practice together and compete against other teams regionally and nationally in a number of regattas each year. Even before the passage of Title IX in 1972, the team received national attention for Coach Don Costello's controversial use of female coxswain Victoria Brown in crew, in a previously all-male sport.
The Burnaby Lake Rowing Club (BLRC) is a rowing club located at Burnaby Lake in the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
The Windermere Cup is a series of annual rowing races hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, United States. The event is open to international teams and takes place on the first Saturday in May, in the Lake Washington Ship Canal around Portage Bay, the Montlake Cut, and Lake Washington. It is sponsored by Windermere Real Estate.
Islay Lee is an Australian former rower. He was a fifteen-time national champion in both sculls and sweep-oared boats, a national representative at world championships and a dual Olympian. He competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1980 Summer Olympics. From 1976 to 1980 he was Australia's prominent sweep-oared stroke, setting the pace in Sydney Rowing Club crews which won five successive national titles in the coxed four, three successive titles in a coxed pair, and in three successive King's Cup winning New South Wales selection eights.
