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2009 GENERAL ENTRY RULE UPDATES:
Special Announcement Regarding 2009 General Entry Rule Changes

Dear Coaches and Competitors:

ALUMNI EIGHT:
The Directors of the Head Of The Charles® Regatta are pleased to announce the introduction of the Alumni Eight Event at the 2009 HOCR. The Alumni Eight will be a handicapped, point-earning event (as opposed to a Directors’ Challenge Event) and the entry fee will be consistent with all other eight-oared sweep events at the Head Of The Charles. The event is restricted to athletes (coxswain included) who attended the same academic institution and who are NOT currently enrolled at the academic institution in question.

Organizations submitting entries to the Alumni Eight must hold “institutional membership” separate of their high school, undergraduate or graduate institution. The traditional IRC wait-period of one calendar year will be waived for all new institutions submitting entry applications to the Alumni Eight only. Alumni and graduate school rowing clubs will be considered as separate institutions from their affiliated school, college, or university and will not be permitted to share entries with their affiliated academic institution.

A maximum of 50 boats will be accepted into the Alumni Eight. A blind draw among the applications shall be used if necessary to determine final entry acceptances. Guaranteed entries earned in Club, Masters, Senior-Masters, Championship or Lightweight Eights may be transferred to the Alumni Eight event-division of like-gender. Guaranteed entries will be earned in the Alumni Eight by finishing within the top half of the event-division.

ELITE SCULLER/SWEEPER WAIVER: For 2009 only, athletes who participate in the 2009 World Championships in Poznan are permitted to compete twice in the Head Of The Charles Regatta: once in a Championship or Lightweight Sculling Event (single or double) and once in a Championship or Lightweight Sweep Event (four or eight). Final eligibility will be determined through the Regatta Office.

Additional 2009 General Entry Rule Changes

I. The Collegiate Entry Rule specifications are now dividing according to men’s and women’s eligibility restrictions.

Men’s Collegiate Fours and Eights: Eligible men’s rowing programs are those whose crews did not:
A) in the current calendar year, compete in the Copley event a the San Diego Crew Classic;
B) in the current calendar year, compete in finals (grand or petite) of a first varsity eight at the EARC Sprints, or IRA Championships;
C) in the current calendar year, finish among the top 6 places at the PAC-10 Championships;
D) in the preceding calendar year, finish among the top six places in an eight at the Canadian University Rowing Championships.

Women’s College Fours and Eights: Restricted to crews whose rowing programs are considered Division II or III status under NCAA rules.

*Bona fide students enrolled at and representing accredited/chartered college or universities and eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics are eligible for the Collegiate event-divisions. Applicants outside of North America must contact HOCR before applying for Collegiate events in order to assess that they are properly placed in this event. The HOCR will make eligibility determinations for all foreign crews.

II. As identified in Entry Rule 1.7.B, an institution may have no more than three entries in an event-division.

III. As specified in Entry Rule 13 under “Ineligibility Discovery”: all athlete line-ups will be posted on www.hocr.org upon the close of on-site registration.

The 2009 Rulebook will be available here in Summer, 2009.