Intercollegiate Rowing Association

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Intercollegiate Rowing Association
AbbreviationIRA
Legal statusAssociation
Website IRA official website

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. [1] It is the direct successor to the Rowing Association of American Colleges, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, [2] which operated from 1870–1894.

Contents

The IRA was founded by Cornell, Columbia, and Penn in 1894 and its first annual regatta was hosted on June 24, 1895. Today Navy and Syracuse are also part of the association. Each year these five schools choose whom to invite to the IRA National Championship Regatta and are responsible for its organization.

The IRA runs the IRA National Championship Regatta, which since 1895 has been considered to be the United States collegiate national championship of men's rowing. This regatta today includes both men's and women's (lightweight) events for 8- and 4-oared sweep boats with coxswains and a women's lightweight double scull (two-oars for each rower) event.

The IRA National Championship is the oldest college rowing championship in the United States.

History

The University of Wisconsin varsity sport rowing team competing in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta on June 11, 1914 at the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Wisconsin varsity rowing team at 1914 Poughkeepsie regatta.jpg
The University of Wisconsin varsity sport rowing team competing in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta on June 11, 1914 at the Poughkeepsie Bridge.

Columbia, Cornell and Pennsylvania were the organizing stewards of the Poughkeepsie Regatta, the IRA Championship until 1949. The first edition was held on the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York, on June 24, 1895.

The format through 1967 with the exception of 1964 was to line all the entries in the race onto stake-boats and fire a shotgun for the start. In the last race of this format in 1967 on Onondaga Lake, in Syracuse, New York, 16 varsity crews waited for the gun to begin their three-mile race—winner take all.

The format was changed in the Olympic year, 1968, to heats and finals over a 2,000-meter, six-lane course. This heat-rep-final, six-lane, 2,000 meter format continues today. [3]

Since the 1920s, when the West Coast crews—notably California and Washington—began to attend and regularly win, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association's championship (known as the IRA) has been considered the national championship for collegiate rowing. Two important crews, Harvard and Yale, however, did not participate in the heavyweight divisions of the event for a lengthy period. (After losing to Cornell in 1897, Harvard and Yale chose to avoid the IRA, so as not to diminish the Harvard–Yale Regatta. The IRA championship was held each year preceding that regatta, which Harvard and Yale considered more important to their schools and alumni than the IRA event. It soon became part of each school's tradition not to participate.) Beginning in 1973, Washington decided to skip the IRA because a change in schedule conflicted with its finals. Washington, however, returned to the regatta in 1995.

From 1982 to 1996, another event, the Cincinnati Regatta (which renamed itself the National Collegiate Rowing Championship), was held in Cincinnati with funding from a benefactor. It was viewed by some crews as an additional, quasi-championship, as the field included Harvard and Yale, as well as medalists from the IRA regatta, Pac-10 and Eastern Sprints. In 2003, after an absence of over one hundred years, Harvard and Yale decided to participate in the IRA championship.

Before 2006, some competitive club rowing programs, which receive little or no funding from their university athletic departments, were invited to the IRA Championship. In 2006, Rutgers University cut funding from its men's rowing program, reducing it to "club" status. Part of Rutger's justification for cutting rowing was that clubs could compete equally with funded programs at the IRA Championships. To avoid other members from losing funding, the IRA excluded clubs from competing at its championship beginning in 2007, leading to the creation of the American Collegiate Rowing Association for clubs. [4]

The IRA regatta was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Champions

An IRA race in 2017 IRA 2017.jpg
An IRA race in 2017

Varsity Heavyweight Eights

Men [5]

Year and ChampionYear and ChampionYear and ChampionYear and ChampionYear and ChampionYear and ChampionYear and Champion
1895 Columbia1913 Syracuse1932 California1951 Wisconsin1970 Washington1989 Pennsylvania2008 Wisconsin
1896 Cornell1914 Columbia1933 - not held *1952 Navy1971 Cornell1990 Wisconsin2009 Washington
1897 (a) Cornell1915 Cornell1934 California1953 Navy1972 Pennsylvania1991 Northeastern2010 California
1897 (b) Cornell1916 Syracuse1935 California1954 Winner disqualified †1973 Wisconsin1992 Dartmouth, Navy, Penn (tie) [6] 2011 Washington
1898 Pennsylvania1917 - not held1936 Washington1955 Cornell1974 Wisconsin1993 Brown2012 Washington
1899 Pennsylvania1918 - not held1937 Washington1956 Cornell1975 Wisconsin1994 Brown2013 Washington
1900 Pennsylvania1919 - not held1938 Navy1957 Cornell1976 California1995 Brown2014 Washington
1901 Cornell1920 Syracuse1939 California1958 Cornell1977 Cornell1996 Princeton2015 Washington
1902 Cornell1921 Navy1940 Washington1959 Wisconsin1978 Syracuse1997 Washington2016 California [7]
1903 Cornell1922 Navy1941 Washington1960 California1979 Brown1998 Princeton2017 Yale
1904 Syracuse1923 Washington1942 - not held1961 California1980 Navy1999 California2018 Yale [8]
1905 Cornell1924 Washington1943 - not held1962 Cornell1981 Cornell2000 California2019 Yale
1906 Cornell1925 Navy1944 - not held1963 Cornell1982 Cornell2001 California2020 - not held
1907 Cornell1926 Washington1945 - not held1964 California1983 Brown2002 California2021 Washington
1908 Syracuse1927 Columbia1946 - not held1965 Navy1984 Navy2003 Harvard2022 California
1909 Cornell1928 California1947 Navy1966 Wisconsin1985 Princeton2004 Harvard2023 California
1910 Cornell1929 Columbia1948 Washington1967 Pennsylvania1986 Brown2005 Harvard2024 Washington
1911 Cornell1930 Cornell1949 California1968 Pennsylvania1987 Brown2006 California2025
1912 Cornell1931 Navy1950 Washington1969 Pennsylvania1988 Northeastern2007 Washington2026

* Not held in 1933 due to the Depression. However, the first college 2000-meter national championship ever held was conducted by local businessmen in Long Beach, California, as a substitute. Washington raced both Harvard and Yale for the first time at this event and defeated Yale by eight lengths to win the championship. [9] Washington counts this victory among its string of Men’s National Varsity Eight Championships. [10]

† Navy was disqualified from the IRA Regatta for use of an ineligible coxswain. Trophies won by Navy were forfeited and not awarded. Cornell finished second. [11]

Number of Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships: Men's Varsity Heavyweight Eights

1 Cornell University (26 championships)

2 University of Washington (20 championships)

3 University of California - Berkeley (19 championships)

4 US Naval Academy (12 championships)

5 University of Pennsylvania (12 championships)

6 University of Wisconsin - Madison (12 championships)

7 Brown University (7 championships)

8 Syracuse University (6 championships)

9 Columbia University (4 championships)

10 Princeton University (3 championships)

10 Harvard University (3 championships)

10 Yale University (3 championships)

13 Northeastern University (2 championships)

14 Dartmouth College (1 championship)

Ten Eyck Trophy

The Jim Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy is awarded to the school amassing the most overall points in a system based on the finishing places of three heavyweight eights crews. From 1952 through 1973, the winning team was the one with the most points in the varsity, junior varsity and freshman eights. Starting in 1974, all races counted in the scoring under a system adopted by the coaches of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. More recently, the scoring system was revised to include only three of the four possible eights from each school in the points standings. [12]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ http://www.row2k.com/ira/2012/05182012IRA110thInvitationandEntry.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  2. ↑ "Rowing Association of American Colleges". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  3. ↑ "List of Champions". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  4. ↑ "ACRA Enters a New Era, Part 1: The Formation of ACRA". row2k.com. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  5. ↑ "Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta Results". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
  6. ↑ "Controversy and Video Replay Mark 3-Way Tie in Regatta". New York Times. 7 June 1992. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
  7. ↑ "Championship Races: IRA National Championship Regatta, June 5, 2016; Mercer Lake, NJ" . Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  8. ↑ "IRA National Championship Regatta Results". Intercollegiate Rowing Association. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  9. ↑ "Husky Crew 1930-39" . Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  10. ↑ "University of Washington Husky Crew 2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  11. ↑ "(Princeton) Heavyweight Crew" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  12. ↑ "James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy". IRA Rowing. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
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