To continue reading…
This article is exclusively for Rowing News subscribers. For as little as $5 a month, you can get access to the best quality, independent reporting on all the issues that matter to the North American rowing community.
Already a subscriber? Login
Beach Sprints, the newest Olympic sport, making its debut at the LA2028 Games, has its newest event coming August 28-30, the Route 66 Beach Festival, on Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Okla.
“Beach Sprints are unlike any rowing event you’ve ever seen,” said event co-organizer Mike Knopp, founder of RIVERSPORT and Oklahoma City’s Boathouse District.
Organizers plan for live music, food trucks, and beach games to make it a fun weekend to celebrate the Route 66 Centennial as well as America 250.
“We call it a ‘run-row-win’ format,” Knopp said. “Athletes sprint across the sand to a boat being held in the water, then row 250 meters through a buoyed slalom course. They finish with a final run to hit a buzzer in the sand.”
“As a competitor, it’s four minutes of mayhem. As a spectator, you just can’t get any closer to the action than this. You’re literally standing in the same sand and water they are competing in,” Knopp said.
The Route 66 Beach Sprints are an official USRowing event and athletes from the U.S. national team are expected to compete at the event. A USRowing clinic for rowers interested in learning how to compete in beach sprints will be held on Friday, August 28.
