Youth Regional Challenge added to World Rowing Championships program schedule

Events to showcase the top rowers under the age of 19 in six regions

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USRowing’s Under-19 National Team is collaborating with the 2017 World Rowing Championships staff to present the Youth Regional Challenge during the World Rowing Championships (WRC) this fall at Nathan Benderson Park, the WRC group has announced.

“The Challenge will feature 312 of the top Under-19 rowers from across the six USRowing regions,” a news release explains.

Each of those regions — Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest — will be represented by two “all-star” crews in each of the four boat classes: the men’s and women’s eights and the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls, the release adds. “USRowing’s Under-19 National Team program will select the coaching staff and athletes representing each region,” the release points out.

“Partnering with USRowing for this extraordinary youth regatta is going to be fabulous,” said Meredith Scerba, executive director of the 2017 World Rowing Championships, in the release. “Onlookers will get to see some of the best up-and-coming rowers in the country, who one day could be representing the United States themselves at the world championships.”

Heats will take place on Saturday, Sept. 23, following the 2017 World Rowing Championships spares’ races and preceding the Opening Ceremony, the release explains. The finals will take place on Sunday, Sept. 24.

“Many of these athletes are aspiring to become elite-level athletes, so to be able to train, attend opening ceremonies and ultimately race as part of the world championship program really is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Steve Hargis, the development coach of the USRowing Junior National Team, pointed out in the release.