Teams from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales will compete throughout the day in Beach Sprints, an emerging international discipline that starts with a sprint on the beach of between 10m and 50m.
After entering the boat, the boat slaloms around two buoys, then turns around a third buoy at 250m and rows straight back to the beach before one of the rowers exits the boat and runs to the finish line.Teams of four junior athletes and four senior athletes will compete across the day in coastal solos and mixed doubles.
The 2023 event will see the introduction of men’s and women’s doubles.
The Home International Rowing (HIR) Beach Sprints is an exciting addition to the rowing calendar and one that it is hoped will create a clear pathway into Great Britain’s and Ireland’s national teams in the future.
“Scottish Rowing is proud to be partnering with the University of St Andrews to launch this exciting new discipline. Through all of our conversations to date we have been hugely impressed with the ambition of the university and all of the local partners. St Andrews has a wonderful history of hosting world class sporting events and we look forward to seeing Beach Sprints coastal sculling added to this programme in 2022.”
– Scottish Rowing Head of Performance Pathway & HIR Management Committee
“The HIR Beach Sprints is a fantastic example of partnership working and it brings a very exciting event to North East Fife, shining a spotlight on our sports facilities, programmes and outdoor resources. The trust has a long and successful legacy of working with partners to support sports from grassroots to performance level and is committed to delivering pathways to help support local talent and getting more people more active of all abilities. We are looking forward to strengthening our partnership with the University of St Andrews and Scottish Rowing.”
– Chief Executive of Fife Sports and Leisure Trust
