The World Rowing Masters Regatta makes a grand return

The 2022 World Rowing Masters Regatta saw 622 races taking place, competed by 3200 athletes. From the individual men’s and women’s age groups to the mixed events, the regatta had hugely competitive athletes mixed with virtual novice rowers through to former Olympians.

Ron Chen, chair of World Rowing’s Masters Commission, stated: « It has been a fantastic regatta. After a disruption of two years because of the global pandemic, the organising committee has really made it work and we were all happy to be together again. The World Rowing Masters Regatta is a boost for many athletes to train throughout the season. They come to make friends and a lot of them are already planning to make new crew combinations for next year. »

The 662 races were all finals with rowers grouped by those nearest in age. The men’s F single sculls (60 years or older) had the most entries with 18 finals being raced. The fastest overall was Denis Crowley from Commercial Rowing Club in Ireland. Crowley’s time was 3:54.71.

The World Rowing Club Trophies were awarded on Saturday afternoon. It was a close call for the women’s category, with Cornelis Tromp Hilversun of the Netherlands overtaking their fellow countrywomen of Roeivereniging Rijnland right at the end of the final day of racing. But with their great performances on the men’s side – they won by nearly 100 points over Monmouth Rowing Club from Wales – Roeivereniging Rijnland took home both the men’s Club Trophy Award and the overall Club Trophy Award.

Notable participants this year included Olympic Champion Ansgar Wessling from Germany who raced in the men’s double sculls as well as in the men’s quadruple sculls. French Olympians Franck Solforsi, Bastien Ripoll and Elodie Ravera also raced in various events, on their home soil. To see the full list of results, click here.

Friday night, the members of the Octogenarian Active Rowers Society (OARS) were honoured. This society celebrates active rowers 80 years of age and older. Within this group, the oldest competitor of the regatta was Odilon Maia Martins from Brazil. Maia Martins is impressively still rowing at the age of 93 years old, within the M age category (89 years and over).

Next year, for the first time ever, a World Rowing event will be held in Africa. The 2023 World Rowing Masters Regatta will be held in Tshwane, South Africa, from 21 to 24 September 2023- Tshwane is the name of the city and municipal district that includes Pretoria. For more information about the regatta, please click here: https://wrmr2023.africa/