The 34rd annual San Diego Crew Classic rowing regatta for universities and club teams will launch its first race of the historic event March 31 at 7:30 a.m. on East Mission Bay.
Early Saturday morning of the two-day event University of San Diego, San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego, will each compete in the preliminary events that will shape their weekend at the largest eight-person crew competition the world.
Zach Johnson’s UCSD men’s crew are one of the favorites in the Cal Cup, racing against 20 teams in the competition such as UCLA, USC, Notre Dame and Washington State as well as SDSU and USD.
USD’s women’s crew will compete for the Women’s Cal Cup, while the Lady Aztec eight will be out to make a good showing in the Jessop-Whittier Cup.
Founded in 1973 with 300 athletes, the two-day crew competition in San Diego now draws more than 3,000 competitors from Washington to Minnesota to Virginia and Florida.
The action starts near SeaWorld, with six teams lining up their shells for the start of each race under the sky chair ride at the adventure park. Rowers will race toward Crown Point Shores east of Ingraham Street on Mission Bay. Events begin every 10 minutes and continue until around 5 p.m.
In the past, the final women’s and men’s major school open championship races were held in the afternoon on Sunday. Typically, by that time, winds can make portions of the course choppy.
This year, the championship finals for the Jessop-Whittier Cup for women and the Copley Cup for men will run on Sunday before noon, with some additional club races filling out the afternoon schedule.
Overall, the event will include 90 races.
The UCSD women’s varsity crew will not attend, as it will compete in another regatta in Washington the same weekend in order to meet its Division II NCAA Nationals qualifying requirements, according to head coach Pattie Pinkerton.
Local club teams of all ages participating in the event include the San Diego Rowing Club on El Carmel Point and the ZLAC women’s club in Pacific Beach. The historic San Diego club was founded in 1888, followed by the all-women’s club ZLAC in 1892.
Many San Diego club and ZLAC junior team members have earned crew scholarships and will return to Mission Bay to represent their universities on familiar waters.
Inspiring athletes from all over North America will comprise more than 100 teams. The sport is a purely amateur endeavor with great traditions, which are reflected in the athletes’ pride, individual dedication and camaraderie.
Crew is the oldest intercollegiate sporting tradition in America, with competition dating back to the mid-1800’s. Today, modern 62-foot carbon-fiber shells, oar materials and other high-tech design features challenge the disciplined athletes devoted to the unique human-powered sport.
Teams are classified as collegiate, junior varsity, novice, junior, club or masters, with some classes further divided into lightweight crews. Women in the team must be under 130 pounds and men under 160.
Crews race in designated class, except for the open events in which colleges and clubs can go head to head.
Eight-oared crews carry a coxswain to steer and keep the team paced as they battle competitors.
More than 20,000 are expected to attend, including a crew-oriented trade show and the alumni tent gatherings.
Tickets are $7 or $10 for a two-day pass. Guests under 13 and active-duty military are free. There is a fee for parking near the gate, but free parking is available in the lots on Vacation Isle by Ski Beach. Cloud 9 Shuttle will offer free rides from the lots to the gate.
A huge screen near the alumni tents will project the race progress for fans to watch.
More information is available at www.crewclassic.org.