The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open weight rowing. It is the direct successor to the

Rowing Association of American Colleges The Rowing Association of American Colleges (1870 to 1894) the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, was a body governing college rowing. Upon organization by the captains of the leading crews of the day, they devised a prima ...

, the first collegiate athletic organization in the United States, which operated from 1870–1894. The IRA was founded by

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, and Penn in 1894 and its first annual regatta was hosted on June 24, 1895. Today

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

are also part of the association. Each year these five schools choose whom to invite to the IRA National Championship Regatta and are responsible for its organization. The IRA runs the IRA National Championship Regatta, which is considered to be the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

collegiate national

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

of men's

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

. This regatta includes both men's and women's (lightweight) events for sweep boats of all sizes. The IRA National Championship is the oldest college rowing championship in the United States.

History

Wisconsin varsity rowing team at 1914 Poughkeepsie regatta

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

were the organizing stewards of the

Poughkeepsie Regatta The Poughkeepsie Regatta was the annual championship regatta of the U.S. Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) when it was held in Poughkeepsie, New York from 1895 to 1949. History The IRA was established by Cornell, Columbia, and Pennsy ...

, the IRA Championship until 1949. The first edition was held on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeeps ...

, on June 24, 1895. The format through 1967 with the exception of 1964 was to line all the entries in the race onto stake-boats and fire a shotgun for the start. In the last race of this format in 1967 on

Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern e ...

, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

, 16 varsity crews waited for the gun to begin their three-mile race—winner take all. The format was changed in the Olympic year, 1968, to heats and finals over a 2,000-meter, six-lane course. This

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

- rep-final, six-lane, 2,000 meter format continues today. The regatta was cancelled in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In 2021 a time trial will be added before the heats because of the difficulty of seeding during the pandemic. No spectators will be allowed for the 2021 regatta. Since the 1920s, when the West Coast crews—notably

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

—began to attend and regularly win, most crews considered the Intercollegiate Rowing Association's championship (known as the IRA) to be a ''de facto'' national championship. Two important crews, Harvard and Yale, however, did not participate in the heavyweight divisions of the event. (After losing to Cornell in 1897, Harvard and Yale chose to avoid the IRA, so as not to diminish the

Harvard–Yale Regatta The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race (often abbreviated The Race) is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually s ...

. It soon became part of each school's tradition not to go). And beginning in 1973, Washington decided to skip the IRA because of change in schedule conflicted with its finals. Washington, however, returned to the regatta in 1995. In 2003, after an absence of over one hundred years, Harvard and Yale decided to participate. The Harvard Freshman eight competed at the 1970 IRA Regatta, finishing seventh in the Freshman event.

Champions

Varsity Openweight Eights

Men '' * Not held in 1933 due to the Depression. However, the first college 2000-meter national championship ever held was conducted by local businessmen in Long Beach, California, as a substitute. Washington raced both Harvard and Yale for the first time at this event and defeated Yale by eight lengths to win the championship. Washington counts this victory among its string of Men’s National Varsity Eight Championships. † ''Navy was disqualified from the IRA Regatta for use of an ineligible coxswain. Trophies won by Navy were forfeited and not awarded. Cornell finished second.''

Number of Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships: Varsity Openweight Eights

1 Cornell University (25 championships) 2 University of Washington (19 championships) 3 University of California - Berkeley (18 championships) 4 US Naval Academy (12 championships) 5 University of Pennsylvania (12 championships) 6 University of Wisconsin - Madison (12 championships) 7 Brown University (7 championships) 8 Syracuse University (6 championships) 9 Columbia University (4 championships) 10 Princeton University (3 championships) 10 Harvard University (3 championships) 10 Yale University (3 championships) 13 Northeastern University (2 championships) 14 Dartmouth College (1 championship)

Ten Eyck Trophy

The

Ten Eyck Trophy The Ten Eyck Trophy is given to the rowing team with the highest points score at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's light ...

is awarded to the school amassing the most overall points in a system based on the finishing places of three eights crews. From 1952 through 1973, the winning team was the one with the most points in the varsity, junior varsity and freshman eights. Starting in 1974, all races counted in the scoring under a system adopted by the coaches of the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. More recently, the scoring system was revised to include only three of the four possible eights from each school in the points standings.

References

External links

*
IRA coverage on row2k

Regatta coverage on RegattaCentral
{{Rowing (sport) Camden County, New Jersey College rowing in the United States College sports championships in the United States College sports governing bodies in the United States College sports in New Jersey Rowing governing bodies Rowing competitions

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...