2024 Registration Guide

Registration information can be found below.  Please expand the sections to view information.

The list of guaranteed entries to the 2024 Regatta can be found here. Athletes with guaranteed entries are reminded that you must still register the entry for the 2024 Regatta – entries are not automatically ‘rolled over’ from the 2023 Regatta.

• 2024 Entry Deadlines

  Singles Applications: Due August 1st at 11:59pm EDT

  Doubles, Youth Singles, and Crew Applications: Due September 1st at 11:59pm EDT

  Accepted Entries will be posted on RegattaCentral within a week of the corresponding deadline.

  Directors’ Challenge: September 28th, 2024 or when events fill to capacity.

  NOTE: Late applications will not be accepted.

  Scratches: The scratch deadline is September 28.  All scratches must be submitted in writing to regatta@hocr.org.  Per rule 3.6, refunds are not given for scratched entries.

• International Applications

  International Applications can be submitted on RegattaCentral beginning April 15, 2024 @ 12:00pm EDT, please read below for further information. The deadline for early consideration is May 31, 2024 – any entry received after this deadline will be part of the standard entry lottery.

  In consideration of the unique logistical challenges faced by overseas crews, the Directors have instituted the following application process. Crews from outside the US and Canada, at least 75% of which are non-US citizens residing abroad, are eligible to apply for early acceptance to accommodate their unique travel logistics. Please see complete rules below:

  International Entry Application Process for 2024:

  International Entry applications will be evaluated on a rolling, weekly basis. Please allow 5-7 days before inquiring as to the status of your entry. Any questions regarding the entry process can be emailed to regatta@hocr.org (please note the office is open Monday – Friday).

  The International Application for early consideration will open in early spring 2024 and will only be available to crews outside the US and Canada. Crews not granted early acceptance, or crews who do not submit applications during this time period will be subject to the Standard Registration deadlines and lottery.

  If you intend to race this year and if the Regatta Office approved your deferral from the 2023 Regatta, please contact us (regatta@hocr.org) prior to submitting your applications.

  Directors’ Challenge Events are not eligible for early application. Please view the Dates and Deadlines page for information on applying to these events.

• Sculling Entry Applications

  Submit Applications on RegattaCentral

  Singles –  Opens June 3, 2024; Closes August 1, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT

  Doubles, Youth Singles – Opens June 3, 2024; Closes September 1, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT

   

   

• Sweep Entry Applications

  Step 1: Submit 2024 Institutional Registration (Opens April 1, 2024)

  Step 2: Submit 2024 Entry Applications (Opens June 3, 2024; Closes September 1, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT)

  Guaranteed entries and non-guaranteed entries will be submitted through the same application site. Institutions may submit up to four non-guaranteed sweep-oared entries in men’s event-divisions and up to four non-guaranteed sweep-oared entries in women’s event-divisions.  Institutions may submit no more than one non-guaranteed entry per event-division.

• Para Rowing Events

  HOCR welcomes athletes with physical and intellectual impairments to participate in our Para Rowing Events.  More information about our events can be found below.  Entry Applications can be submitted on RegattaCentral – please note that Para Rowing Event entries are considered “Institutional”, and should be entered by a coach or club administrator. If you have any questions about our Para Rowing Events please email regatta@hocr.org

  Event 43: Mixed Para PR3 Fours – Defined as All PR3 Athletes, 50% Male/Female

  Event 44: Para Mixed Inclusion Fours – Defined as At Least 50% Para Athletes, 50% Male/Female

   

  Event 45: Inclusion Double – The Inclusion Double is open to any combination of gender lineups, and is defined as a double with at least 50% Para Athletes. There are multiple divisions/awards within the Inclusion Double event, please find their descriptions below.

   

  Awards and Special Medals within the Inclusion Double are outlined below:

  • • Overall Winner* – Awarded to the fastest boat within the event
    • Female Double Winner – In the event that the Overall Winner of the Inclusion Double is an All Male or Mix lineup, a first place medal will be awarded to recognize the top finishing All Female lineup

  Inclusion Double Special Medal Divisions**

  • • • Mixed Inclusion PR2: At least 50% PR2, at least 50% Female
      • Mixed Inclusion PR1: At least 50% PR1, at least 50% Female
      • PR3Mix 2x: Both Athletes PR3, at least 50% Female. Intellectual disabilities race within PR3, unless qualifying for PR2 or PR1.
      • PR2Mix 2x: Both Athletes PR2, at least 50% Female

    *In the event a crew with a Special Medal designation wins the Overall First Place Medal, the Special Medal will be awarded to the next fastest crew in that category

    **Entrants will be surveyed at the end of September to elect any Special Medal division that their crew should be designated as

• Institutional Registration Card (IRC) Required for crews applying to 4x+, 4+, 8+, Youth 1x, Youth 2x, Inclusion 2x

  All organizations planning to submit sweep-oared or Youth 1x, Youth 2x, Youth 4X+, or Inclusion 2x entries into the Head Of The Charles must first submit an Institutional Registration. Individual athletes and scullers are not required to submit an IRC. 

  Submit Here

  (Open April 1, 2024)

  Crews from outside the United States: Please register your Institution under the FISA IRC on RegattaCentral.

  United States Based Crews: All US-Based sweep-oared, Youth 1x, Youth 2x, Inclusion 2x, or Youth 4X+ entries must hold some level of active organizational membership with USRowing.

  If your club has historically registered for the “USRowing IRC” on RegattaCentral, you may continue doing so if you currently hold an active membership with USRowing.

  If your club has historically registered for the “HOCR IRC” (most alumni crews, any clubs that do not hold an active USRowing membership) please register for the “USRowing Weekend Pass” option. If your entry is accepted, USRowing will reach out to complete the Weekend Pass registration.

  If you are not sure of your organizational membership status with USRowing, contact Jules Zane at either Jules.Zane@usrowing.org or (609) 786-9024 for more information.

  One IRC will cover the whole institution/rowing club. The Primary Contact listed for each institution must be 21 years of age or older.

  Alumni and Graduate Crews: Alumni and Graduate crews are considered as separate institutions from their affiliated school, college, or university and will not be permitted to share entries with their affiliated academic institution.

  Institutions must first complete their IRC before they will be able to submit Crew Entry Applications.

  Colleges and Universities: Institutions representing college and university teams comprised of undergraduate students eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics in accordance with NCAA rules must require members to compete as part of their college or university institution through the use of one recognized Institutional Registration Card.

  Only one Institutional Registration Card will be accepted from each college or university with the following exception: two Institutional Registration Cards, one for men and one for women, will be accepted from a single institution (school, college, or university) in cases where men’s and women’s rowing programs have been historically separate, or where men’s and women’s rowing programs are administered separately.

• Overview and Deadlines

  The Head Of The Charles® Regatta Directors are pleased to continue the Directors’ Challenge Quads, Mixed Double, Mixed Eight, and Parent/Child Double Sculls tradition for the 2024 Regatta. These Directors’ Challenge events benefit the permanent endowment of the HOCR and ensure the continued success of the event. We thank you for your participation and support of the Regatta.

  Please note: the limitation that no one, including coxswains, may compete more than once will NOT apply to the Directors’ Challenge Quadruple Sculls, Mixed Double Sculls, Mixed Eight, or Parent/Child Double Sculls.

  Institutional Registration: An IRC is not required to enter the Directors’ Challenge Events

   

  Registration will open on June 10, 2024 at NOON EDT

  on RegattaCentral

• Directors' Challenge Doubles

  The Head Of The Charles®  Regatta Directors are pleased to present the Directors’ Challenge, Parent/Child and Mixed Doubles, to benefit the Endowment of the Head Of The Charles Regatta. Thank you for your participation in the Directors’ Challenge events and your continued support of the Regatta. Please note: the limitation that no one, including coxswains, may compete in the Regatta more than once will NOT apply to the Directors’ Challenge Quadruple Sculls, Mixed Doubles or to the Parent/Child Doubles.

  Parent/Child Double and Mixed Double: Registration opens June 10th at NOON EDT

  **New for 2024** – Due to the popularity of the Directors Challenge events, we will be moving to a lottery to select the entries for these events.  The window to submit an application will be open for 1 week, beginning June 10th at Noon EDT and closing on June 16th at 11:59pm EDT.  Accepted Entries will be posted/notified by July 1, 2024

   

  Entry Fee & Donation:

  The Directors’ Challenge events partially benefit the endowment of the Head Of The Charles. Crews will receive a receipt for their tax records after the Regatta.

  Specifications of Double Scull Special Events:

  Mixed Doubles: Handicapped; at least 50% female as assigned at birth
  Parent/Child: No handicap, any gender, any age. Participants must be related.

  Entry Rules:

  The limitation that no one, including coxswains, may compete in the Regatta more than once will NOT apply to the Mixed Double or to the Parent/Child Double Sculling Events.

  The events are open to all experienced scullers.  Athletes participating in the Directors’ Challenge Doubles must, at a minimum, be enrolled in high school. College athletes should be aware that participation in this event may affect their NCAA eligibility.

  Mixed Double Handicap:

  The Directors’ Challenge Mixed Double will be age-handicapped. Average age of a crew will be used to calculate handicap. Crews whose average age is 30 or less will have no handicap. Crews whose average age is 31 or higher will have their time adjusted according to a smooth curve of time-adjustment based on the age handicaps for Long Distance races developed by the ARA, as published in the British Rowing Almanac (2009). Standard time for the Directors’ Challenge Mixed Double will be taken at 17 minutes. There will be an adjustment made to the handicap calculation if racing conditions are deemed to significantly change the standard times.

  Download all handicaps calculated to the nearest 0.5 seconds: Directors’ Challenge Handicaps

  Competitors must race in traditional (sliding seat, fixed rigger) racing shells.

  For these events, there are no guaranteed entries and no guaranteed entry privileges at any future Head Of The Charles Regatta. Winning either event, or coming within 5% of the winning time, will not earn the institution or individual competitors a guaranteed entry into any event at the succeeding year’s Head Of The Charles Regatta, nor will it have any bearing on the Club specification at any future Regatta.

  Each entry must comply with all the general rules governing the other events of the Regatta, except where otherwise stated herein. Entry applications will be accepted only from doubles comprised of U.S.A residents who are members of a USRowing-member institution and/or an organization having “institutional membership” in the Regatta, or, if competing “unaffiliated,” individual members of US Rowing and foreign nationals who are in good standing with their nation’s FISA-recognized governing body. The names of the individual scullers, and their affiliation, must be stated on the application form.

  Competitors may solicit corporate sponsorship for their boats (display of sponsor’s name on the boat) only with prior approval from the Head Of The Charles Regatta.

  Substitution of any member is permitted, provided all other entry rules and specifications are met. No substitutions are permitted once a crew’s boating form has been submitted at on-site registration.

  Starting Order:

  Returning entries naming the same two athletes who competed in the previous years Regatta will compete before all newcomers and be seeded according to their time in the preceding year’s Regatta. All new entries will be seeded based upon experience listed on the application form and by the discretion of the office.

  Awards:

  Each participant will receive two commemorative Sportgraphics photographs.

  Awards (winners only) will be presented at the awards ceremony on Sunday.

  FIRST PLACE MEDALS:

  2 1/2-inch individually struck bronze medallions will be awarded to the members of the winning crew in the Mixed Double.

  SUBSIDIARY MEDALS:

  1 3/4-inch individually struck bronze medallions will be awarded to the runner-ups in the Mixed Double. A subsidiary medal is awarded per every 10 entrants (up to a maximum of 5th place for at least 40 entrants), as for other events in the Regatta.

• Directors' Challenge Quads/Mixed Eight

  In 2005, by a majority vote of the Head Of The Charles® Board of Directors, the Regatta introduced a “special” quadruple scull event to benefit the Endowment of the Head Of The Charles Regatta. We thank you for your participation in the Directors’ Challenge Quad or Mixed Eight event and your continued support of the Regatta.

  DEADLINE:

  September 28, 2024

  Directors’ Challenge Quads/Mixed Eight: Registration opens June 10th at NOON EDT

  Entry Fee & Donation:

  The Directors’ Challenge events partially benefit the endowment of the Head Of The Charles. Crews will receive a receipt for their tax records after the Regatta.

  **New for 2024** – Due to the popularity of the Directors Challenge events, we will be moving to a lottery to select the entries for these events.  The window to submit an application will be open for 1 week, beginning June 10th at Noon EDT and closing on June 16th at 11:59pm EDT.  Accepted Entries will be posted/notified by July 1, 2024

  SPECIFICATIONS OF QUADRUPLE SCULLING; MIXED EIGHT EVENTS

  Men’s divisions: Male scullers only

  Women’s divisions: Female scullers only

  Mixed divisions: At least 50% of athletes assigned female at birth.

  ENTRY RULES

  The limitation that no one, including coxswains, may compete more than once in the Regatta will NOT apply to the Directors Challenge for Quadruple Sculls and Mixed Eights

  The quad event is open to all experienced scullers and will have two divisions for male and female crews. Applicants must detail steers-person’s relevant steering experience. The Head Of The Charles Regatta will review all entries and reserves the right to exclude any entry deemed to have insufficient experience to safely navigate a course as difficult as the Head Of The Charles Regatta in a quadruple sculling boat. The races will be held on the last day of the Regatta. There is no longer an age minimum for the Directors’ Challenge Quad Race.

  Competitors must race in traditional (sliding seat, fixed rigger) racing shells equipped with a steering mechanism. Crews may race in shells with coxswain (coxswain may be of either sex in any event-division). There will be no weight-limit set for coxswains in this event, with no separate category for quadruple sculls with coxswain, and those without coxswain. Crews will not be allowed to start the race in a boat lacking an adequate steering mechanism operated by a sculler, or a coxswain.

  There are no guaranteed entries and no guaranteed entry privileges at any future Head Of The Charles Regatta. Winning an event-division in this event, or coming within 5% of the winning time, will not earn the institution or the individual competitors a guaranteed entry into any event at the succeeding year’s Head Of The Charles Regatta, nor will it have any bearing on the Club specification at any future Regatta.

  Each entry must comply with all the general rules governing the other events of the Regatta, except where otherwise stated herein. Entry applications will be accepted only from crews comprising U.S.A. residents who are members of a USRowing-member institution and/or an organization having “institutional membership” in the Regatta, or, if competing “unaffiliated”, are individual members of USRowing, and from foreign nationals who are in good standing with their nation’s FISA-recognized national governing body. The names of the individual scullers, and their affiliation, must be stated on the application form. In this event only, entries will be accepted from composite crews. No one may represent an institution of which he or she is not a bona fide member. If there is more than one entry from a single institution into an event-division, they should be identified by sequential letters of the alphabet or by an entry name.

  Competitors may solicit corporate sponsorship for their boats (display of sponsor’s name on the boat and/or name the crew for the sponsor in the Regatta program provided all individuals are individual members of USRowing or, if a foreign national, their equivalent FISA-recognized national governing body) only with prior approval from the Head Of The Charles Regatta.

  OTHER RULES AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

  The person responsible for operating the steering mechanism of the boat is strongly recommended to attend coxswain’s training. The starting gap between crews, normally 8 to 10 seconds, will be increased to about 15 seconds (subject to the Starters’ instruction) in this event. Regatta officials (river control) may actively warn crews to correct their course around hazards (for example, bridge arches at Weeks footbridge, at Anderson bridge and at Eliot bridge).

  CLOSING DATE: September 28, 2024.

  Entries will be accepted on a first come, first served basis (receipt of completed application form and full payment of entry fees by the Regatta office) at any time prior to 11:59PM on the day of the deadline, subject to a maximum number of 90 accepted entries. Substitution of any member except the steers-person prior to registration is permitted, provided all other entry rules and specifications are met. Substitution of the steers-person requires prior approval. No substitutions are permitted once a crew’s boating form has been submitted at registration.

  STARTING ORDER:

  Returning entries will be seeded according to finish time in the preceding year’s Regatta. All new entries will be seeded based upon experience listed on the application form and by the discretion of the office.

  AWARDS:

  Awards (winners only) will be presented at the last awards ceremony after racing on Sunday. Awards will be given to both the overall winner (w/ handicap) and the boat recording the fastest time in each event-division

  First place medals: 2 ½-inch individually struck bronze medallions will be awarded to the members of the winning crew in each of the men’s and women’s divisions of the event.

  Subsidiary medals: 1 ¾-inch individually struck bronze medallions will be awarded to the runner-ups in each of the men’s and women’s divisions of the event. A subsidiary medal is awarded per every 10 entrants per event-division (up to a maximum of 5th place for at least 40 entrants), as for other events in the Regatta.

  AGE HANDICAPS: 

  The Directors’ Quadruple quad events will be age-handicapped. Average age of crew (whole years rounded down, individual ages rounded down, as of race-day) will be used to calculate handicap. Crews whose average age is 30 or less will have no time adjustment. Crews whose average age is 31 or higher will have their time adjusted according to a smooth curve of time-adjustment based on the age-handicaps for Long Distance races developed by the ARA, as published in the British Rowing Almanac (2009). Standard times for the races will be as follows: the Men’s and Women’s quadruple scull standard times will be taken as 16 min and 18 min, respectively. There will be an adjustment made to the handicap calculation if racing conditions are deemed to significantly change the standard times.

  Download all handicaps calculated to the nearest 0.5 second: Directors’ Challenge Handicaps