There are two peaks of junior rowing within the UK. The National Schools Regatta and the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships, the latter being made possible by the volunteers from the team of British Rowing and Volunteers from London Youth Rowing (LYR).
The competition sees junior rowers from across the UK take part, drawn from local clubs to elite level. They descend to the Copperbox in London and compete in a series of different distances and timed trials. With 147 schools taking part in the 2020 championships, the rowers will be facing a new challenge after it was announced that the 2021 event will be taking place online and will be following a virtual competition. leaving the Copperbox to be a shadow of it’s previous self.
The argument that has been presented is that, because of the Covid restrictions that many clubs have seen imposed on them, having a virtual championship is more accessible and almost makes the competition more accessible to many clubs. The northern clubs such as those that reside in Newcastle and Scottish areas now do not have to travel down to East London to compete.
This news comes to no surprise following the recent Pairs Head race that was only opened to London-based clubs based on a certain stretch of the tideway, cutting down 2019’s entries from 417 racing crews down to 96 entries for this year. The event was well received by those who took part, with many relishing in the opportunity to race. With the Indoor Championship many more are able to enter despite being far from the venue with clubs and club members being able to support each other and use their own equipment guaranteed to be clean and Covid safe.
A statement taken from London Youth Rowing says: “NJIRC 2021 is going virtual! Get ready for rowing, racing and record making as London Youth Rowing prepare for a bigger and more inclusive event than ever before.”
The entries for the Junior Rowing Indoor Championships went live on Monday 12th October. This follows the statement put out by race organisers LYR, a charity set up to bring rowing to East London and the surrounding areas, offering some clubs to set up “NJIRC Hubs” allowing the larger rowing centres to allow young people without access to rowing machines. With the competition taking place from the 25th – 27th February; there’s plenty of time to train.
