FESTIVAL REGATTA 2007

27th Annual Festival Regatta - Saturday July 7th, 2007

FINAL RESULTS HAVE BEEN POSTED. (REV 3).

NEW PICTURES BY THE MASTER JOE PROVENZANO of Lowell.

A few dozen regatta pictures have been posted on Shutterfly (external link, no login required).

Many thanks to all the competitors, referees, vendors and staff who made for a successful regatta. We hope you had an enjoyable time.  If you have any post-regatta questions or concerns, or any other kind of feedback, please write to us  -- we will respond to each and every email.

Welcome to the home page for the 27th Annual Festival Regatta brought to you by the members of the Merrimac River Rowing Association.  The MRRA is very proud of this fun day of 6-lane sprint racing on the scenic and historic Merrimac River in Lowell, Massachusetts.  This USRA registered regatta features about 30 events for the full range of age and boat classes.

Read the latest regatta updates on this page below.  This is the page to bookmark for updates prior to race day, and on Monday after the results have been posted.

Use the menu at the left to review the rules and classifications and other info about the Festival.  If you have any questions, please write to us at festival@merrimackrowing.org.

Regatta News - July 9 2007

• FINAL RESULTS HAVE BEEN POSTED. (REV 3).
• NEW PICTURES BY THE MASTER JOE PROVENZANO of Lowell.
• A few dozen regatta pictures have been posted on Shutterfly (external link, no login required).
• UPDATED HEAT SHEETS ARE POSTED.  Download HEAT SHEETS (PDF).  This is version 7/6 6:03am; there may be slight changes due to last second scratches.
• LATEST EVENT SCHEDULE IS HERE (Jul 6, 15:38).  Download the Event Schedule PDF for start times and event order.  (PDF).   NO MORE CHANGES ON THE WEB SITE.  Any further changes will be announced at the C&C meeting tomorrow morning; you can safely assume that no race will run earlier than the start times shown.
• The Regatta Packet originally published back in June contains some useful information.  (There are no changes since it was originally published on June 10th; includes area map, rules, course schematic, and FAQ).
• Coaches and Coxswains meeting is set for 07:07:07am on Saturday morning 07/07/07 just outside of the boathouse.  We will celebrate this unusual cosmic moment by sacrificing a random coxswain to the rowing gods, so be sure your crew has a spare.  Be there for late-breaking news.  Regatta Time will be set at this meeting and we will be running a tight schedule -- miss this meeting at your own risk.
• REMINDER:  Check-in is REQUIRED on Saturday morning.  You will need your bow numbers and other goodies.  Check-in desk will be open from 6am until 11am.
• WEATHER: Forecast is for 84°/65° with 30% chance of precip, chance of isolated t-storms (we will have them isolated away from the course).

Don't forget to pick up a FR T-Shirt.  $15 at the boathouse.

June 26 2007

Today's featured topic:  "Waivers, Sex, and You"

• Case 1: If your club is a USRA club and follows USRA guidelines for waivers (your club keeps a waiver on file for each member), then you are DONE - see you at the Check-In Desk on race day to pick up your bow number.
• Case 2: If you are an individual rower and are a USRA member, then make sure that you have submitted your USRA waiver online by July 4th and you are DONE - see you at the Check-In Desk on race day to pick up your bow number.
• Case 3: If your club is a Non-USRA club or you are rowing Unaffiliated, then do one of the following:
   
  • AFTER JULY 4th:  Bring waivers and a signed Coach's Cover Sheet (PDF format) for your team to the Check-In Desk.  The cover sheet is your statement verifying that waivers for each rower have been provided, either online through Regatta Central or in the pile of waivers you are delivering on race day.  (We will not have time to match waivers on race day; your signature will attest that your waivers are complete and match with your athletes).
  • BEFORE JULY 4th:  Log onto Regatta Central ASAP and start online Regatta Central waiver process for each member that will be rowing (a unique email address is needed for each rower).  Note that once you have done this, you are all set for the rest of the year! Check your team roster for your boat(s) to make sure that all the rowers' waivers are listed as "on file" and if any are listed as "missing", you will need to bring signed paper waiver to the at the Check-In Desk on race day.  Complete this waiver process by midnight of Wednesday, July 4th, to ensure that the waiver data is ready for race day.

  Note that each member of a composite entry should individually be covered by one of the three cases above.  Yes, the word "Sex" was put into the title just to get you to read about waivers.  Sorry.

June 10 2007

• Regatta Packet available for download (1.6Mb PDF)

June 04 2007

• Event Schedule has been posted and registration is open on Regatta Central.  Registration closes Saturday night June 23rd.

We will have frequent pre-race updates here on this page.  If there's one page to bookmark for the Festival Regatta, this is it.