Success at first Head race under new Competition Framework

British Rowing’s new Competition Framework was successfully trialled at the Wycliffe Small Boats Head last weekend.

Over the past three years, a group of volunteers from the National Competition Committee and many members of British Rowing staff have worked together to create the new Competition Framework following consultation with the sport through Regional workshops.

The aim of the new Framework is to help produce a progressive and flexible competition framework that is sustainable, recognises achievement and gives both existing and new competitors the opportunity to row in high quality events.

Two key aspects to the implementation of the Competition Framework are a more accurate way of grading a rower’s ability (the ranking index) and a new modern British Rowing Online Entry system (BROE2).

The new ranking index will grade rowers according to how well they have performed over time rather than simply counting regatta wins. This will enable competition organisers to come up with a range of banded events to best meet the needs and aspirations of the competitors.

Over the past two years, and particularly the last 12 months, the online entry system has been rewritten (BROE2) as a modern web application to support the new Framework and to work across multiple devices, such as tablets and smartphones.

“I have just entered my University of Gloucester crews and the new system is really really good!”

The first live trial of the new Competition Framework using BROE2 went ahead as planned at the Wycliffe Small Boats Head, which took place on Saturday 3 December. BROE2 was used for the entire competition process, from taking entries to submitting results.

The Head has a tradition of filling up very fast and this year was no exception. BROE2 opened for entries on 17 November at 11am and by 11:10, 50 entries had already been received. A few issues were identified with BROE2 but were promptly resolved and by 4pm on the same day, 350 entries had been made.

This proved to be a very successful first trial with many positive comments being received.

Following a hugely successful event on Saturday, the final results were entered into BROE2. British Rowing is now testing the results entry phase and the calculation of the Ranking Points for competitors after Wycliffe Small Boats Head.

“Exciting that we’ve just made out first entries in #BROE2 @WycliffeHeads Times they are a-changin’”(@RowBrum)

As the BROE2 continues to be trialled, three more competitions will be using the system over the coming months; Wycliffe Big Head, Bedford Eights and Fours Head and the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race.

We are still on the lookout for more competitions from across the country to get involved in this trial phase. If your competition would like to discuss using the new BROE2 system then please contact competitionframework@britishrowing.org

For more information about the competition framework and ranking index please go to our dedicated information hub where you’ll find lots of useful information including a Frequently Asked Questions section. https://www.britishrowing.org/events/competition-framework/