Rules of Racing

All events will be conducted in accordance with Rowing Australia Rules of Racing and Related By-Laws (2024 Edition, hereafter referred to RA Rules of Racing) and in conjunction with Rowing Australian Capital Territory By-Laws (November 2021, hereafter referred to RACT By-Laws).

All events will be of Mixed format with all crews consisting of an equal number of male and female rowers in accordance with Rowing Australia Rules of Racing and Related By-Laws (2024 Edition) Rule 21 and By-law to Rule 21 and Rowing Australia Para Rowing Rules.

Athletes entering Club events must not have been a member of a National Senior A or Under 23 team in the previous or current calendar year. Any athlete with a para classification is eligible for club events regardless of national team status.

For the PR3 Double Scull both rowers must be classified in accordance with Rowing Australia’s eligibility requirements. The Classification status for the crew needs to be at CONFIRMED, PROVISIONAL or REVIEW sports class status.

In relation to Transgender inclusion each of the Golden Oar Events (Open, Club, U19, Masters, and PR3) is considered to be a High Performance and Performance Pathway Event as defined in Rowing Australia’s Gender Diverse and Transgender Inclusion Guidelines.

For all events:

• the 1500m event will be conducted as side-by-side racing on a buoyed course;
• the 3000m time trial will be conducted with crews starting from fastest to slowest based on their 1500m race time results; and
• the 450m Sprint Finals will be conducted as side-by-side racing on a buoyed course.

Note that the 1500m and 3000m events will be a standing start; the 450m sprint will be a held start. All timing will be undertaken using hand-held stopwatches.

For the Masters event, the following will apply:

• For the 1500m race, Rowing ACT will aim to cluster like Masters categories, where possible, within heats. All crews will commence their racing within a heat at the same time.
• For the 3000m time trial, the starting order will go from fastest to slowest based on crews’ raw times from the 1500m race.
• Handicap times for each crew will be rounded down or up to the nearest second for the practical purposes of starting the race by the Official Race Umpire. No adjustments will be made to actual finish times in the sprint to take this adjustment into account.
• Prognostic speeds are by Masters Category (source: Rowing Australia, 2018 Handicap and Age Grade Revision, 1,000m Prognostic Speeds for Masters by Boat and Gender – m/sec)

Category	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
Age	27+	36+	43+	50+	55+	60+	65+
Mix 4x- (m/s)	5.262	5.277	5.146	5.047	4.943	4.815	4.653

 

Category	H	I	J	K	L	M
Age	70+	75+	80+	83+	86+	89+
Mix 4x- (m/s)	4.445	4.173	3.897	3.647	3.354	3.012

Click here for the Masters Ranking & Handicapping Guide including a worked example.

Rankings

For Open, Club, U19 and PR3 events, rankings for the 450m Sprint Finals will be determined from fastest to slowest by the adding the times from the 1500m race with the 3000m time trial time. Crews will then be allocated into their respective Finals.

For the Open event, the A final will be conducted in Eliminator format. The races will be conducted in the following manner:

• Heat 1: Six crews will race with the slowest crew eliminated
• Heat 2: Five crews will race with the slowest crew eliminated
• Final A: Four crews will race with medals and prize money awarded to the first three place getters.

For the Masters event, the following will apply:

Rankings for the Sprint Finals are determined by comparing crews’ average speeds from the 1500m race and the 3000m time trial against standard age-based prognostic speeds. Prognostic speeds adjust for age, ensuring fair comparisons across different age groups.

Rankings are used to allocate crews into six lanes finals, i.e. crews ranked 1 to 6 are allocated into the A final; 7 to 12 into the B final; 13 to 18 into the C final, etc.

Ranking Process:

1. Crews complete both the 1500m race and the 3000m time trial.
2. Raw times from both races are combined.
3. The combined time is converted into an average speed.
4. This speed is compared to the standard prognostic speed for the crew’s age category to calculate a prognostic percentage performance.
5. Crews are ranked from highest to lowest prognostic percentage for entry into finals.

[This approach is familiar to many Masters rowers from other regattas, such as the Saltwater Challenge in Victoria (see: https://rowingmanager.com/mobile/regatta/6457/results/race/12), or the Iron Cove Classic in NSW (see: https://rowingmanager.com/regattas/6583/results/).

Handicap Process for the Sprint:

• Handicaps are calculated using the difference between each crew’s age-based prognostic time for 450m and the crew with the fastest prognostic time in the respective final.
• Crews in older Masters categories, with slower prognostic speeds, start earlier.
• This creates a staggered start aiming for a simultaneous finish.

The winner of each final will be the first boat to cross the line.

The following additional rules apply to the Open Mixed Double Sculls.

Eligibility and Selection:

Each crew will consist of one male and one female rower drawn from athletes entered in the Open Mixed Quadruple Sculls.

The Golden Oar Organising Committee may cap the number of crews and may nominate eligible athletes for automatic inclusion. Any remaining places will be randomly selected from the eligible athlete pool, with equal numbers of male and female athletes.

Crew and Boat Draw:

Participating male and female athletes will each be assigned a number and randomly paired to form crews.

Available double sculls will each be assigned a letter or other identifier and randomly allocated to crews in a separate draw.

The draws may be conducted manually or electronically and will be supervised by a person appointed by the Organising Committee.

Boats and Rigging:

The Organising Committee will make every reasonable effort to provide boats of an equivalent racing standard and, as far as practicable, with a common rigging configuration.

Crews may make reasonable adjustments to their allocated boat, provided these do not damage equipment or delay racing.

Boats may only be exchanged with approval of the Race Director.

Training and Familiarisation:

Each crew will have access to its allocated boat for a minimum aggregate period of two hours of on-water training or familiarisation before the heats, subject to weather, safety and circumstances outside the reasonable control of the Organising Committee.

As far as practicable, equivalent preparation opportunities will be provided to all crews.

Racing and Progression:

Racing will be conducted over the 450 metre sprint course, progressing from heats to semi-finals to an A Final.

The progression system will be published before racing.

Progression will be determined solely by finishing rank. Times from different races will not be compared for progression purposes.

Lane allocation will be by random draw for each round.

Dead heats:

In the event of a dead heat, based on aggregate 1500m and 3000 times, which affects progression to an A Final event, RA Rules of Racing Rule 81 shall apply. Where a re-row is required, it shall be conducted over the 450m Sprint course rather than “the full course” as prescribed.

Prize Money:

The allocation and distribution of prize money will be at the sole discretion of the Golden Oar Organising Committee. All decisions in relation to prize money will be final and no objections or protests shall be entered into.

In the case that there are only three crews involved in an event prize money will be awarded to the first two place getters only.

In the 450m Sprint A Final, if a dead-heat occurs between crews, then they shall be given equal placing in the final order and the next placing(s) shall be left vacant. If the tied placing is for a medal position, then the Organising Committee shall provide additional medals, however the prize money for that position shall be split equally between the crews involved in the dead-heat.

An allocation of prize money is available should a crew in a final other than the A final achieves a time which is quicker than the winner of the A Final. In this case, if a dead-heat occurs between crews which have a faster elapsed time than the winner of the A Final, then they shall be given equal placing and the prize money for the fastest time for that event shall be split equally between the crews involved in the dead-heat.