Head of the Housatonic

Head of the Housatonic Regatta -- Saturday, October 7, 2017

 

 

Full 2016 Results Are Online Here

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO REGISTRATION FOR THE 2017 HEAD OF THE HOUSATONIC REGATTA

 Dear Coaches & Competitors –

We are very excited to gear up once again for the Head of the Housatonic Regatta.  We take great pride in trying to create a fun regatta, but recent growth in the event has, frankly, strained several parts of the experience, especially online registration, spectator parking, and shell launching and landing.  In order to maintain the Housy as a beloved fall head race, we are implementing some important changes for 2017.  Our goals are to make the registration process more orderly, eliminate the need for trailer registration, and make the regatta about 10% smaller.

This year, we are moving to a Guaranteed Entry + Lottery-based registration process, similar to what is used for the Head of the Charles. The new process will provide automatic entries to the fastest crews from the previous year, and admit additional crews on a lottery basis.  All registrations will continue to be managed through the RegattaCentral website, but we are adjusting the calendar and deadlines as follows:

 

By moving to this new process, we will eliminate the urgent need to enter crews on the first day of registration. This experience has been a hassle for many, and an unpleasant surprise for those who failed to register in the first two days, only to learn that the regatta was already sold out.  This will also eliminate the separate trailer registration process that we have employed in the past few years to manage space at the regatta venue.  You can find details on the new process and deadlines below.

This is a big change to our process, so we will do our very best to address your questions and concerns as promptly as possible. Thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you in October.

Matt Broder/New Haven RC

 HOW IT WORKS: 2017 HEAD OF THE HOUSATONIC REGISTRATION PROCESS

• Registration for ALL competitors will open on RegattaCentral on Monday, August 21.  All competitors and coaches must register all their desired crews before the deadline for registration closes on Sunday, September 3.

• Registration closes on Sunday, September 3.  NHRC will use the following week to allocate regatta spaces. In allocating slots, NHRC will look at overall regatta demand as well as demand for individual events.  In addition, these rules will be applied: 

• For ALL JUNIOR events: Top 10 finishes from 2016 are guaranteed entries in 2017.  The entry is attached to the club or school, not the athlete (except for unaffiliated competitors).  All remaining slots in JUNIOR events will be allocated by lottery using randomly-generated numbers to select which crews will be entered.

• For ALL OTHER events, if demand for the event exceeds the event cap, automatic entries will be awarded to crews that finished in the top half of the event in 2016, and remaining entries will be awarded using the same lottery system as for Junior events.

• NHRC will adjust the size of individual events based on overall demand.  Spaces for events that do not reach their cap will be allocated to other events with higher demand. 

• NHRC will publish the list of accepted entries on RegattaCentral on Monday, September 11.  Coaches and athletes will have until Monday, September 18, to register and pay for their accepted entries.  Crews will also have the opportunity to reserve regatta tent spaces from September 11-18.

• Beginning Tuesday, September 19, NHRC will reopen entries for which it has not received payment to crews that remain on the waiting list.  Crews that receive offers at this time have until Monday, September 25, to register and pay for their entries.
• On Monday, October 2, NHRC will publish the first heat sheet for the regatta.  Additional heat sheets will follow that week as crews scratch and we accommodate waitlisted crews.

• The regatta will take place on Saturday, October 7.

 Please note there is no restriction on the number of races an individual athlete can row at the Head of the Housatonic.

 

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