Champions Regatta Principles

Last updated: Feb. 25, 2026

Whereas the Association continues to strive for excellence and to make the Championship Regatta an event that is fair, safe and open to all secondary schools, and whereas the number of schools entering the regatta continues to increase, Be it resolved that the Championship Regatta shall operate under the following principles:

A. RIGHT OF ENTRY

• that the regatta will be open to all secondary schools from around the world
• a student is considered a High School student, for the purpose of entry into this regatta, once they have enrolled fully into grade 9.
• that there will be no limit to the number of schools that can enter;
• that the schools will be restricted to a limit of two entries per event if space is available;
• that competitors will be limited to entering a maximum of two events;
• that coxswains can compete as a coxswain in a maximum of 3 events
• that the coxswains of female or male crews can be of either sex;
• that there will be a limitations on entries in each event with up to a maximum of sixty entries per event, Completed entries are received on a first come basis;
• that the maximum age of a competitor shall be under nineteen years of age as at January 1st of the year of competition;

B. DRAW

• that the current system of heats, semi-finals and finals be used to determine the champion in each event
• that the regatta will not exceed three days in duration and that all finals will be held on the last day of the regatta; There will be no racing on the Monday for any reason.

C. AWARDS

• that the gold, silver and bronze medallions be awarded to the first, second and third place competitors respectively and that the school and the coach of the winning crew receive a commemorative plaque;

MEDAL PRESENTATIONS: Will take place at the end of each Final.

The following Policy on Medal presentations will be in effect starting with the 2013 Championships:

1. No crew will be allowed to return to the grandstand to pick up medals if they do not stop following their race;
2. Medals will be mailed to the School following the regatta if they are not presented in the grandstand;
   Special consideration for medal presenting may be made by the Regatta Chair due to scheduling changes of the races.

D. EVENTS

• that races will be held for the following boat types: the eight with coxswain (8+), the four with coxswain (4+), the quadruple sculls (4x), the quadruple sculls with coxswain (4x+)the double sculls (2x), the straight pair (2-)  and the single sculls (1x);
• that there will be an equal number of events for female and male athletes;
• that a junior aged competitor will be under 16 years of age as at January 1st of the year of competition;
• that a senior aged competitor will be under 19 years of age as at January 1st of the year of competition;
• that there is no age classification for novices;
• that there will be one weight class for the male and female crews in addition to the open weight class for male and female crews. The weight classes are 63 kilogram for women and 72.5 kilograms for men.
• that the restricted weight classes will be defined as the maximum weight per athlete in the boat and that there will be no averaging of the crews weight to determine eligibility;
• that the minimum weight of a coxswain shall be 45 kilograms for female and male coxswains regardless of whether they are in a female or male event;
• that there shall be 40 events at the regatta and they shall be as follows,

These events were amended for the 2025 Championship Regatta:

E. POINTS/EFFICIENCY:

Effective for the 2025 Championship Regatta There will be Efficiency Banners presented.

Effective 2014 CSSRA is changing the regatta’s scoring system to an efficiency based system and awarding two team trophies; a men’s (the Bob Pearce Trophy) and a women’s (The Bobby Rosenfield).

In the new system all boat classes (eights, fours, quads, doubles and singles) are weighted equally. The 2014 scoring system is detailed in the rules section of the website.

The CSSRA believes that the new efficiency system will provide an exciting opportunity for all schools to compete for one or both of the trophies and increase participation at their school as they set their sights on capturing the trophies.