Sanctioning
This New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Association regatta is sanctioned by the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council and by the New Zealand Rowing Association.
Results are being published on the rowIT website as they become available and are checked: www.rowit.co.nz/results/siss2011.
The regatta terms & conditions make reference to the following limit: "The maximum number of entries per rower is three".
This limit will not be enforced in the entry system as it is an unauthorised (and unauthorisable) limit. Members will recall they rejected the possibility of the Regatta Committee setting such a limit during the 2009 Rule-change AGM (see remit 16).
Nevertheless, schools are asked to voluntarily respect the limit because Regatta Committees never take the decision to seek entry limits lightly.
While South Island schools are competing on Lake Ruataniwha for recognition as the best the South Island has to offer their North Island counter-parts will be doing the same thing up at the 2011 Aon North Island Champs on Lake Karapiro. Keep a watch on both regattas for indicators of who may claim the top spot at Maadi!
In 2005 a Special Committee was convened to consider the future of Maadi because that regatta had grown so large it was in danger of becoming an 8 or 9 day regatta. In the end some small but significant changes were made to Maadi. These changes resulted in a small drop of entries to a sustainable level that has been maintained ever since.
There is now plenty of time to run a Maadi regatta but the same can no longer be said of our South and North Island Championships:
Although this a much smaller regatta than its North Island counterpart it has seen rapid growth in entries over the past two seasons and an increase in status. However, being a two-day regatta, this regatta is also reaching capacity; further growth in entries and the 6 new events this year will not help matters.
The Regatta Committee had hoped to introduce full medal ceremonies this season. This reflects growing recognition of the importance of this regatta in the school rowing calendar. Instead, the Regatta Committee is faced with a tight racing schedule for finals; meaning it will be difficult or impossible to introduce full medal ceremonies this season. Consequently, pupils may have to wait until a future season when Members have addressed the capacity problem before they can receive full recognition at the regatta for their race results.
Members who have attended this event over the past three seasons will be aware this regatta has reached its capacity and is struggling to be completed within the three-day limit (imposed by Principals when we last reviewed our Championships in 2005).
Changing the progression system in 2009 from a standard Maadi progression to one like that used at the South Island Champs has provided temporary respite in the last two years. Unfortunately, entry numbers at the regatta have continued to grow and this year there are also 6 new events. The only form of entry limit available to the Regatta Committee is already set at 2 crews-per-school-per-event and dropping that to 1 will not be approved.
This leaves the Regatta Committee with only two significant tools to use to complete the regatta in time: tweaking the progression system and closing up race intervals. Therefore, until Members either give the Regatta Committee more time or more tools to limit entries they have to accept progressions will be tough and the race schedule tight. Consequently, it is recommended coaches abandon any expectation pupils will have sufficient time between events to be guaranteed to be able to compete in multiple events.
As long as we continue to operate in an environment where most Member schools send most of their pupils to the North/South Island Championships the over-capacity problem at those regattas is going to continue to worsen; to the detriment of pupils' experience at the regattas. Members need to be thinking about how pressure can be taken off the regattas (or how more time can be made available to run them).
Communication with the organisers of the South/North Island Champs regattas can be made using email at [email protected] and [email protected]
SanctioningThis New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Association regatta is sanctioned by the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council and by the New Zealand Rowing Association.
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