2025 USRowing RowFest National Championships set to begin July 12

USRowing’s biggest event of the year, RowFest, is set to begin this Saturday, July 12 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The event will span eight days ending Sunday, July 20, and feature racing, athlete development, and community events for all ages. 

RowFest will take place on Ford Lake, a 975-acre freshwater reservoir situated near Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. The regatta features 403 different event categories, 2,541 entries, and 138 different clubs. Rocky Mountain Rowing Club has the most entries with 126, followed by Minneapolis Rowing Club and Texas Rowing Center. The event is a combination of all parts of the rowing world, but is organized by age and racing type.

Open and U23 Racing

Saturday, July 12th, and Sunday, July 13th, feature Open and U23 racing on a 2,000-meter course. 

Youth and U17 Racing

Saturday and Sunday will also feature youth 2,000-meter racing. Monday and Tuesday have 1,000-meter racing for youth and U17 rowers. These athletes are competing with their home clubs or a youth elite development program.

International Rowing Challenge

The inaugural International Rowing Challenge will have time trial heats on Tuesday, July 15th, and an Olympic-length 1,500-meter final on Wednesday, July 16th. Athletes attending the 2025 Selection Development Camp will represent the United States and race in the challenge against teams from Canada, Mexico and New Zealand in multiple events. 

Sunset Sprints

Sunset Sprints will be held on Tuesday evening for U17, Youth, U23, and Open, and Thursday evening for Masters. Athletes will compete in the single sculls and the quadruple sculls. The competition will take place over a 500-meter race. Costumes are encouraged as there is also a competition for best dressed at the sprints. 

Masters Racing

Finally, from Thursday, July 17th to Sunday, July 20th, Master's rowers will be competing for a national title. There are several age categories at this race, going up to the masters age category “K”, which is racing for athletes 83 years or older, proving that you can be nationally competitive at any age.

Events

Racing is not the only thing happening at RowFest. There will also be several events to celebrate the sport. There will be two community learn-to-row events so anyone can try their hand at the sport. The youth learn-to-row will happen after racing on Saturday, July 12th, while the adult learn-to-row will take place after racing on Saturday, July 19th.

There will be a college fair during the Youth portion of the regatta following competition on Tuesday and Wednesday.

To kick off master's racing, there will be a happy hour on Thursday evening.

Finally, United We Row’s Toast will take place at the Union Rec restaurant on Friday, July 18th. The toast is a celebration of people who are historically underrepresented in rowing. This event is an opportunity for every person who loves the sport to come together and celebrate this community.