New Olympic sport gets fast and furious at Bosham
Published 11:08 on 20 Mar 2024
One of the Olympics' newest sports is to be demonstrated in Bosham. Beach sprint rowing will for the first time be part of Bosham Sailing Club's Swift Winter Rowing Regatta.
Eighteen elite athletes will give a fast and furious demonstration of the new sport in Bosham on Saturday March 23rd, 2024. Among the rowers will be world and European Beach Sprint medal winners and prospects for the 2028 Olympics.
Beach sprint rowing is an extreme and unpredictable sport. It involves competitors sprinting down the beach into the water where they jump aboard their five-metre-long shells and row for 250 metres, slaloming between buoys, before heading back to the shore.
The winner is the rower that's first to leap out of the boat and race back up the shore and hit a buzzer at the finish line. The format began as an informal row-and-run event in Bari, Italy in 2011 but since then has featured in competitions around the globe. In 2023, the Olympic Committee announced that beach sprint rowing would be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The beach sprint races will be demonstrated at the Bosham Sailing Club Winter Swift Rowing Regatta. Other events on March 23rd will see more than 60 rowers from clubs in the Three Harbours (Chichester, Langstone, and Portsmouth) compete in quad and doubles sculling and sweep races. London's Lower Thames Rowing Club and UCL Bentham Boat Club will also participate in the regatta. All will be competing to become ultimate Champion Club of the Swift Series.
Programme (times to be confirmed, and all races covered by drone)
- 0800: Rowers and support crews briefing at Bosham Sailing Club.
- 0900 1100: Winter Swift Racing Regatta with the course running between Bosham Quay and Cobnor.
- 1115 1215: Beach Sprints start and finish line is on the foreshore Shore Road, Bosham (it will be signposted) and the course will approach Bosham Quay.
- Prize-giving at Bosham Sailing Club.
Last updated 16:20 on 20 March 2024
