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Coming Up: Northwest Junior District Championships

UPDATE: Updated heat sheets and results can be found at the USRowing NWJDC webpage.

On the evening of Thursday, May 19, Mount Baker Junior Crew will head down to Vancouver for the final regatta of the season, the Northwest Junior District Championships.  Historically, this regatta has been called the Northwest Junior Regional Championships, but USRowing changed the name, and I am still a little unsure why.  We will still call it “Regionals” for short.

Cost: $265
Online course code: 65617
Payment can be made online until Tuesday, May 17 at midnight.  Thereafter, payment must be made in the office.  Athletes will not be allowed to travel unless payment has been made.

The team will meet at Mount Baker at 5:45 PM on Thursday, May 19 with the buses leaving at 6:00 PM sharp.  The team will go straight to the hotel, check in, and go to bed.  We will depart the hotel at approximately 6:00 AM Friday morning to unload the trailer and rig.

Racing begins on Friday, May 20 at 8:00 am and continues until Sunday, May 22 at 11:00 am.  This is a 2000 meter regatta held on Vancouver Lake at Vancouver Lake Park.  The course is fully buoyed, meaning each lane as buoys on either side to delineate the lanes and reduce the likelihood of collisions during the race.  While spectators can see the entire course from the shore, it is challenging to see who is winning until the last 250 meters or so.

Preliminary schedules and lane assignments have been sent out to the coaches, but not updated on RegattaCentral.  Here are links to the heats as they stand on 5/16:

In past years, results have been posted on RaceTrak.com.  Unfortunately, the two major real-time results websites (RaceTrak and Powerhouse Timing) are now defunct, so USRowing is scrambling to have results posted as close to real-time as possible on their website.  The most likely place to find them will be here.  Final results will be posted to RegattaCentral within a day or two of completion.

Typically, the weather is good for this weekend of racing in Vancouver.  However, anyone who has been paying attention knows that this spring has been unusual.  Right now the weather report is for high 60’s to low 70’s with some rain on Saturday.  More importantly, it is not supposed to get real windy.  Similar to Brentwood, there can be a mid-afternoon crosswind which can delay racing.  Fortunately, if you look at the schedule, there is a significant amount of unscheduled daylight every day which allows regatta organizers to delay racing without significantly affecting the regatta.

Here are a few more items of note for anyone planning on traveling down to watch racing:

  • There is a $2 cash parking fee for anyone wanting to use the parking lot.
  • Dogs are not allowed at the park during this time of year.  Please leave your dogs at home.  While there are many that defy this rule, we risk the future of the Vancouver Lake race site by doing so.
  • Spectators can “buy in” to the team’s meals if you RSVP by Tuesday at noon.  Contact Anne Nelson at anne.w.nelson@comcast.net for more information.