The World Rowing Federation (FISA) in partnership with Concept2, USRowing and the Long Beach Sprints are pleased to announce the location of the second World Rowing Indoor Championships.
To be staged February 24, 2019, in Long Beach, Calif., the event will combine with the Long Beach Sprints and also will serve as the inaugural USRowing Indoor National Championships.
“We are excited to be partnering with FISA, Concept2 and the Long Beach Sprints to bring the World Rowing Indoor Championships back to the United States in 2019,” said Patrick McNerney, Chief Executive Officer of USRowing. “We also are thrilled to be launching our inaugural USRowing Indoor National Championships as part of this event. Indoor rowing continues to grow in popularity and provides us with the opportunity to attract a whole different set of athletes to our sport. By establishing a national indoor championship, we have the chance to take the sport of indoor rowing to the next level.”
The indoor championships is in its second year and follows on from the successful staging of the first World Rowing Indoor Championships in February 2018 in Alexandria, Va. The inaugural event was a collaboration between World Rowing, Concept 2 and the existing Alexandria indoor rowing event, the Erg Sprints. It saw three new world records including indoor rowing star Olena Buryak of Ukraine setting a record in the 30-39-year-old women’s race and Christine Cavallo of the United States setting the women’s lightweight record.
“LBRA is tremendously honored to be selected for this premier event. Long Beach has a proud legacy in American rowing, beginning with the 1932 Olympic Games, and we have been an incubator for Olympic and national team talent through the intervening 85-plus years. We can’t wait to welcome the world to our doorstep in 2019,” said Rob Glidden, President of the Long Beach Rowing Association. “We have run indoor rowing competitions from their inception over 35 years ago, as well as host several on-water competitions throughout the year, plus have been the site for regional and national regattas as recently as 2008, but being part of the World Rowing Indoor Championships, and helping the event to grow and thrive, is a unique privilege.”
The inaugural championships attracted over 2,500 participants from 33 countries competing for world championship medals in open, junior, under 23, para and masters events in both openweight and lightweight categories.
“Indoor rowing is now a legitimate international sporting discipline and a championship-rated format is necessary,” said Jean-Christophe Rolland, FISA President. “We are pleased to be again partnering with Concept2 and USRowing, and the success of the first event shows that the demand for the championships is justified. We are making plans for future events to take place in different parts of the world.”
Indoor rowing continues to grow as a rowing discipline in its own right. It has become more than another training tool for on-water rowers. Indoor rowing machines can now be found in fitness gyms, rehabilitation clinics, schools, universities and CrossFit facilities all around the world.
“Over the last 35-plus years, erg racing has spread due to the rowing community’s’ love of fair competition, with thanks to the enthusiasm and energy of race organizers worldwide,” said Peter Dreissigacker, Founder of Concept2. “The involvement of FISA and national federations raises the bar.”
For more information, please visit www.worldrowing.com, www.longbeachrowing.org, or www.usrowing.org
USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing has 83,000 individual members and 1,350 member organizations, offering rowing programs for all. USRowing receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors and partners.
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