Amateur Rowing Association
The
Amateur Rowing Association (ARA) is the governing body in the
United Kingdom for the sport of
rowing. It is also responsible for the development and organisation of rowing in
England. The
Scottish Amateur Rowing Association (SARA) and
Welsh Amateur Rowing Association (WARA) oversee this in their respective countries.
The ARA is a member of the
British Olympic Association and the
International Federation of Rowing Associations, also known as
FISA.
The ARA was formed in 1882 and there were strict rules described what qualified someone as an "amateur rower". An alternative organisation, the National Amateur Rowing Association, started in 1890 without such stringent rules. The two associations eventually merged in 1956 into the current ARA - which is open to anyone including professional rowers.
The ARA operates a points system to allow rowers to compete with those of a similar standard. Competitors gain points in both rowing and sculling by winning a qualifiying race (a regatta race with more that 4 entries). When first joining the ARA, all members are Novice (NV) status.
The current status levels are (high to low) Elite, Senior 1 (S1), Senior 2 (S2), Senior 3 (S3), Senior 4 (S4), Novice (NV). Each crew members' points are added up and this determines the status of the crew. The crew is only allowed to race at this level or higher (e.g. a S2 crew can only race at S2, S1 or Elite).
The table below indicates the maximum number of points that may be held by a crew at each status level.
| 8 +/x | 4 +/-/x | 2 -/x!1 x | | Elite | no limit | no limit | no limit | no limit |
| S1 | 64 | 32 | 16 | 8 |
| S2 | 40 | 20 | 10 | 5 |
| S3 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| S4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Novice | NV | NV | NV | NV |
Anyone who has competed for the Senior, Lightweight or U23 international squads will be given 12 points (the maximum possible). Those representing GB at the
Junior World Rowing Championships have their points topped up to 6.
Juniors
There are a number of junior categories (J12, J13, J14, J15, J16 and J18). The number represents the age competitiors must be less than before the first day of September preceding the event. Due to possible issues of asymmetric muscle development, sweep oar rowing is only allowed at over J15 for boys and J16 for girls.
The ARA have an awards scheme for
coaching that up until 2005 consisted of the Instructor's Award, Bronze Award, Silver Award and finally the Gold Award. These are being overhauled in 2006 as qualifications are brought in line with the
Sportscoach UK system that many other sports in the UK have adopted.
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Amateur Rowing Association Homepage*
Scottish Amateur Rowing Association*
Welsh Amateur Rowing Association
