Following the recent online meeting of the Championship Committee, we wish to provide the
following update to our clubs and competitors:

Summary
The Committee has been meeting on a regular basis to plan for the regatta and to address the challenges presented by running an event under Covid conditions. While the potential impact of the Delta variant remains a concern in all aspect of our lives, our championship plans remain on track. A site visit to the NRC took place on Saturday 26th June and that assisted in the planning process. The following are a number of updates that we wish to provide in respect of a number of areas.

Trailer Parking
It is important that we endeavour to provide trailer parking in a safe manner which minimises the impact of the possible spread of Covid-19. Clubs will receive a questionnaire in the run up to the event asking for your best estimate of the number of trailers and boats you intend bringing. We would greatly appreciate it if you would respond as quickly as possible to this request when received. The course will be open from 9:00 on Thursday 19th August. As a result of Covid training will not be allowed prior to that period this year. We would also ask clubs to note that boats and trailers may not be left in the NRC following Cork Regatta.

Club Tents
We will continue to accommodate club tents as we feel these will play an important part in enabling competitors to remain within their club “bubble” during the event. There will be no changing tent at the beach and the NRC building will not be accessible.

Prospectus
We are awaiting the July Covid update but hope to issue the regatta prospectus in the next two weeks. There are two scheduling items which we wish to bring to the attention of clubs at this time:
Semi-Finals: In order to comply with Covid restrictions, we wish to reduce the amount of time that competitors spend in the NRC. As a result the committee have decided that we will not run semi-finals in any events this year. This will significantly reduce the length of the regatta day. For any event with more than 18 competitors, we will run time trials with the fastest six competitors qualifying for the final. Competitors will be familiar with the process as it is similar to how the A Final qualifies at the Grand Leagues are determined. We appreciate that this eliminates the tactical side by side format qualifies that have traditionally been run but these are challenging times and we must find solutions that permit us to run the regatta in a fair and safe format.

Men’s Club events: We made a small change to the list of events and have switched the Men’s Club 8+ and Men’s Club 1X. The single will now take place on the Saturday and the eight on the Sunday.

Two Regatta Rule
As there are insufficient regattas to offer competitors an opportunity to qualify this year, it is proposed that this rule be suspended in it’s entirely for 2021. An EGM will be held for this purpose on 13th July.

Close of Entries
We would again remind clubs that for 2021 the entries will close a week earlier. As a result the entries for the 2021 Championships will close at 19:00 on Wednesday 4th August.

Spectators
Unless there is a relaxation of restrictions, no spectators will be permitted at the 2021 regatta.

Events
The following is the updated list of events which will take place each day. We will obviously endeavour to separate multiple events at the same grade to minimise clashes. (changes in red type)

We are currently contingency planning so all of the above logistics are obviously dependent on the restrictions which we are required to work under. As these can change at relatively short notice all aspects of the regatta must be considered provisional at this time.

Kieran Kerr
Regatta Secretary
Championship@rowingireland.ie