Div Rep report to WMRC 1st December 2008

New rule 3-2-1d

"Those competitors who win events at Henley Royal regatta shall have their points topped up to the following levels: Open events - 12; Intermediate events - 10; Club/Student events - 9; Junior events - 6. Those competitors who win events at Henley Women's Regatta shall have their points topped up to the following levels: Elite events - 9; Senior events - 7; Intermediate events -5; School/Junior events - 3."

Amended Rule 4-1-2

.. "An event is deemed to be qualifying when there has been at least one race in which a minimum of two crews have been placed. A crew is not placed if it has been disqualified or has been given a verdict of "Not rowed out".

Personally I think this one is very badly drafted as it would allow crews to gain points without having a proper race. For example in a 3 boat event. A beats B in the semi final and then has equipment failure a few strokes off the start in the final against C. C wins a point despite only having raced for a few strokes. Even in 4+ events is possible to win by having more than 1 NRO verdict. I intend proposing an amended version of this rule along the lines.

“An event is deemed to be qualifying provided that the winner has taken part in at least one race in which a minimum of two crews have been placed….”

A new rule has also arisen on the suggestion of the junior rowing commission, this institutes J17 as a category. The first win at J16, J17 and J18 each year would count for a senior point.

As the next WMRC is not until after the ARA Council I’d be grateful to get any comments on any of the above back via email.


Div Rep report to WMRC 19th March 2008

From: Christopher Anton
27 Haughton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham B20 3LE

07966 166 602, 0121-686 9304
c.anton@blueyonder.co.uk


The ARA Council met on Saturday, 9th February.

Major items of business were

Regional rebates – these will be considered every 3 years in future. Aim is for them to be paid in July providing a set of accounts no more than 6 months old are sent. Payment will be based on the June membership figures. The rebate will be going up to £1 for each adult (from 80p) and 50p for each junior, student and non-racing member), and 25p for each J13 member.

Block licensing – this scheme is progressing. It will inevitably mean that some will be paying more and others less. The aim is not to collect any more money from the sport than currently but to give rowing a bigger voice if large increases are on the horizon

FISA World Coastal championships next year are in Plymouth. The ARA has been meeting with UK Sport to discuss funding for the 2011 junior world championships and has withdrawn its bid for the European Championships in 2010 at Strathclyde

International report – all Sporting Giant people were given contact details for clubs in their region. The was a full and frank discussion about the timing of the international trials with respect to the HoRR.

Finance – yet again the budget is in surplus, unfilled vacancies being a major factor. Next year’s budget is again planning for a deficit and is allowing for a 3.5% increase in salary costs. The post of ARA CEO will be advertised after the Olympics, the job description and salary are not yet know. A policy was agreed regarding reserve and these will be set at a minimum to 25% of annual expenditure wit ha cah balance of 50% of annual expenditure.

National report – the regional KPIs are still awaiting finalisation of the scheme from Sport England. There is much political uncertainty regarding Sport England ant the moment and this will hold up the development of the next forward plan.

Coaching – there was much disquiet about the UKCC. We have finally got some numbers – in 2005 492 candidates took the IA and almost all of these passed; in 2006 there were 264 candidates for the UKCC L2 course and so far 92 of these have passed; in 2007 there were 343 candidates and so far 49 have passed. Therefore there has been a huge drop in qualified coaching with the advent of UKCC. We have asked for a regional breakdown to be provided at the next Council meeting, as well as a breakdown by schools, universities and open clubs. Each region is being asked to draw up a workforce plan showing the number of tutors and assessors need (again it worries me that this is the language of employment not that of a voluntary activity). Thames region have currently got 100 candidates awaiting assessing and some of these will probably fail because of a lack of assessors. There will be a UKCC Level 1 dry rowing course. This will be hugely more expensive that the dry instructors’ award and the UKCC L2 dry instructor award will be very similar in price to the water award. Again I don’t understand what sort of people these awards are aimed at – certainly not people who want to coach ergo technique down at the club.

National Competition Committee – no unconfirmed events will make it into the Almanack. Dates for 2009/10 need to be collected now. References to the ARA Code of Practice for Safe Rowing in the new rules will be substituted with the ARA Water Safety Code until the new code is published

Executive report – the rules concerning grievance and dispute were amended slightly and guidance issued on dealing with such disputes and setting up a hearings panel. Clubs are advised to have similar policies in place for dealing with disputes. The Safeguarding and Protecting Children Policy was approved

Water Safety – the ARA has seen the RoSPA final draft and commented on it, and this is being prepared for publication. This is delaying the introduction of the new water safety documents. All West Midlands clubs completed their water safety audits on time

Rowing matters

There were the following regional entries in the

Women’s Head

75 Bewdley / Warwick S 3 21:13.24
150 Hereford RC S 4 22:16.35
110 Pengwern BC A S 2 21:46.50
145 Pengwern BC B S 3 22:07.59
228 Ross RC S 4 24:53.23
65 Stratford-upon-Avon BC S 2 21:07.55
24 University of Birmingham BC A S 4 20:24.08
87 University of Birmingham BC B Nov 21:24.87
227 University of Birmingham BC C Nov 24:52.66
199 University of Warwick BC Nov 23:26.13

UBBC won both the S4 and novice prizes

Men’s Head

54 18 52.06 S.1 Worcester I
89 19 11.62 S.3 Birmingham University I
93 19 13.11 S.2 Warwick University I
129 19 27.62 S.1 Worcester II
169 19 43.47 S.2 Bridgnorth I
174 19 47.98 S.3 Stratford upon Avon
192 19 54.09 S.2 Hereford III
221 20 3.03 S.3 Stourport II
226 20 6.52 S.2 Hereford I
243 20 20.05 S.4 Warwick University II
252 20 23.08 S.4 Evesham
262 20 27.15 S.3 Bewdley I
289 20 42.96 S.2 Bewdley II
293 20 44.37 NOV Birmingham University II
297 20 47.83 S.2 Stourport I
304 20 53.08 S.2 Warwick Graduate
329 21 10.87 S.3 Ross I
339 21 18.43 NOV Warwick University III
361 21 38.91 S.3 Pengwern
362 21 40.00 NOV Bewdley III
371 21 54.33 NOV Bridgnorth II
386 22 13.82 S.4 Ross II
401 22 45.97 NOV Birmingham University III