Entry Details - Ball Cup Regatta 2009

To view next year's Ball Cup Draw, click   2009 Ball Cup Draw

Entry continues to be traditionally for 'Smaller Schools'.

The ‘40 Seat’ condition described below is applied. The entry ethic is quite clear; large school boat clubs should not enter, and schools that, for example, compete and do well at National Events would not be expected to enter with their higher ability pupils. A ‘closed ’event.

The "Ethic" overplays the "40-seat".  It is assumed that 40 is the near total membership of the club; entry should not be the best 40 seats from a larger club.  The Committee will be looking next year at the ARA membership figures of clubs and schools.  The Ball Regatta is for those for whom a Nat Schools or Champs entry is too high a goal.  Conversely, Nat Schools or Champs entries should forego The Ball Regatta.  Exception might be clubs that host larger numbers of inner city schools, whose ability is sometimes limited.

Entries are not normally accepted under club title, although clubs that host schools that are not affiliated to the ARA may send entries either in the names of such schools, all pupils to be bona fide members of such schools, or in the name of a Club Rowing Association if registered as such with the ARA, constituted of local pupils from non-rowing schools. Clubs with a large clientele of local pupils of high competitive standard should consider the ethics of entry.

All competitors, of whatever age, must be registered ARA members to enter The Ball Cup events.  The insurance cover offered within such membership is paramount. Registration / racing licences must be carried at the event.
 
Events at multilane regattas are often straight finals, and to give competitors a full day’s racing,  double or triple entering in different boat classes is accepted. The moderate entry fees encourage this. 

The sum of all racing seats in The Ball Cup for any school/club must not exceed 40, including coxes.

The racing day is divided into three sections:- singles, doubles and quads (fours) to allow such possible double or even triple entering, at coaches' discretion.

Boat Sharing.  Each year, in spite of the impossibility of building 'boat sharing' into the draw, clubs are still clearly sharing boats, and often being scratched for non-arrival, or holding up races due to crew change-overs.
      We are sympathetic to this situation.  
      In future years, we will try to assemble a fleet of 'committee' 
      boats, to be shared by the smaller clubs.
      This should not be abused by clubs with larger facilities who
      might regard this as a convenient option.

Events are by ARA age group,  J11 to J18 ( School Years 6-13 )   Boys and Girls.
 
Boats:

An overall competition winners’ trophy, based on points, will also be presented.
Medals are presented for 1st,  2nd,  3rd  in each event

Entry Fees:

£7 per seat ( coxes to pay.  After all, they do win prizes! )

Ball Cup ( as a closed event ) Entries may, if desired, be by email, with cheque to follow. Single sculls entries should be named. Cheques to ‘BALL CUP REGATTA’. Closing date Wednesday, 29th April 2009. ( We regret that this year, cheques must be received  by post on Saturday, 2nd May 2009,  following the Wednesday closing date. Unpaid entries at this point will be negated. We were still chasing cheques last year some months after the event. )


‘Tinies’ Championships.    J 11/12/13 Scullers.  

It is regretted that in 2009 the 'Tinies' Championships will be omitted from the programme.  The 2008 event was oversubscribed to such a degree that we were riding our luck !  

In 2008, we had to omit several entries from the Ball Cup proper; this is the main event, and we have to give priority to entries here.  

We are looking for a new home for the 'Tinies'; it has become well-established and we do not want it to fall by the wayside.  Any club that is seriously interested in hosting the 'Tinies' event should contact Graham Middleton.  

The draw will take place on the morning of Thursday, 30th April 2009, and to avoid late postal problems, all posted entries should be confirmed by prior email. Please ask for a receipt.

Secretary:      Graham Middleton,    'Glebe Cottage’  Bredwardine,                                        Herefordshire, HR3 6BZ Telephone:                   01981 500635      E-mail:                          ghm2@btopenworld.com

        
Graham Middleton ( Sec )

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E-mail contact:  Graham Middleton

Ball Cup and Portrait Photographs by Jil Orpen      
Last updated:   March 17, 2008