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Putting nationalistic politics aside, we have to cheer for the selection of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Our GLRF Brasil members will be whooping and hollering since their rowing venue, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, will be host to the rowing competition.
http://www.glrf.info/gotchagallery/data/media/41/lalagoaremo.jpg  
Talk about picturesque! The venue is located right in the heart of the city and visitors will be able to watch the rowing races from a number of vantage points.
 
The other cities bidding for the Olympics were Tokyo, Madrid, and Chicago. No doubt our GLRF United States members in Chicago will be forlorn at their city’s site selection loss but we have to wonder about the proposed rowing venue on Lake Michigan. Critics had assailed the plan as windy and exposed. To cap it off, the venue was to be temporary. The entire breakwater placement was scheduled for removal after the Olympics. How does that benefit the local rowing community? Whatever happened to using Crystal Lake as the rowing venue? Sure it would have needed some major excavation but after the Olympics, the Chicago rowing community would have had a world class rowing facility. All of us in the gay and lesbian rowing community could have taken smug satisfaction that we led the groundbreaking path for an Olympic rowing venue when the 2006 Gay Games featured rowing at Crystal Lake.
 
Parabéns Brasil!
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Q-Crew, the Toronto gay and lesbian rowing club that arose from the primordial ooze of Lake Ontario in 1997 to successfully compete at the 1998 Amsterdam Gay Games, and then melted into a sticky puddle on Church Street on a hot summer day in the 2000’s, left behind talented rowers, broken hearts, and many unresolved domain links on the web.
 
For years afterwards, the q-crew.com domain foundered in the hands of unscrupulous domain aggregators. These profiteers hoped to sell the domain for a premium and/or redirect gay-focused traffic to porn sites. To this day, the q-crew.com links continue to reside on Row2K, Rachel Quarrel’s Rowing Service, Outsports, Long Beach Rowing Association, and Gay Canada, among others.
 
Hoping to assist those searching the web for Canadian gay and lesbian rowing information, GLRF submitted a bid for the domain in 2005, before it’s annual renewal date. Unfortunately, the domain was consistently renewed and the GLRF minimum bid did nothing to attract the attention of the domain owners. The bid was forgotten and presumed defunct.
 
On 25 Jul 2009, after several practices on Lake Bagsvaerd, and in an Aliens dinner table moment, the GLRF Team was shocked to read an email domain purchase confirmation for q-crew.com Following the customary 60-day gestation, q-crew.com was transferred to the GLRF domain brood and now links to gay and lesbian rowing. Help support GLRF. Donate today. That domain bid cost US$60.00
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Just watched the live telecast from the Gay Games website and yes, Cleveland was awarded the license to host the 2014 Gay Games. There will undoubtedly be much discussion about the winning bid but what does this mean for rowers? Like Boston, and Washington, Cleveland included rowing as one of the featured sports in their bid.
 
Check out the GLRF analysis of the three rowing proposals , discussed in the Boston Bee.
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The GLRF worldwide community expanded to 28 countries when a rower from Cape Town registered today. His membership brings the first GLRF representation on the African continent. South Africa has a very active and competitive rowing community, complete with local boat builders and rowing programs in the Western region, around Johannesburg, and in the South East region. Although smaller in size than the Head of the Charles Regatta or the Royal Henley Regatta, the Buffalo Regatta, held every February is known worldwide for its competitive stature.
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After several months of testing and tweaks, the GLRF internal social network, Network Now!, was officially unveiled in a soft launch to the GLRF Los Angeles and GLRF London area members. The service will be more widely announced at the end of September to ensure there are no hidden “bugs.”
 
Similar to other social networking services, Network Now! offers each member the ability to update his/her own activity stream through manual updates or from a direct link to a person’s Twitter account. Members can also ‘friend’ others. What differentiates Network Now! is that all personal profiles are limited to gender, geographic location, and rowing skills so that members can be assured of a continued level of privacy. GLRF OnlineID’s are the only visible form of identification unless a member wants to upload a personal picture. Photo and video sharing options from Flickr and YouTube provide great added rowing features. One of the nice features of the video sharing is that the videos are automatically embedded in the page so web surfing is minimized.
 
However, the real strength of Network Now! shines as a community building tool. Since most rowers belong to a variety of clubs in a given area or region, Network Now! provides a perfect medium to connect rowers at a social and community level. However, the regional group possibilities are just one option. With Network Now!, any member can form any group for any focus or interest. Collegiate rowers can form groups based on competitive conferences, and coaches can form groups based on rowing skills: juniors, collegiate, masters, and elite. Rowing areas of interest can form groups: open water, masters, and adaptive are just some of the possibilities. Groups can serve to coordinate events and regatta participation.
 
Groups have three levels of access, depending on the amount of desired GLRF membership interaction: public, invitation-only, and private. In keeping with the GLRF individual membership structure, every member can set his/her desired level of interaction with groups and other members through an extensive menu of notification settings, thereby minimizing excessive email updates.
 
GLRF members are encouraged to click on the Network Now! navigation button and join a group, or create your own.
 
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Update 18 May 2011: The Network Now! group component was replaced by the All Oars Groups, an application of the All Oars Network. The new groups feature offers greater flexibility and connectivity for the GLRF community. Read the blog entry on the GLRF Maintenance Log.
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GLRF international membership continued its march towards the 1,000 mark with registration number 800 coming from a Dublin university graduate who had recently returned to London.
 
In the past two months, GLRF recorded 28 registrations from 7 countries with UK registrations accounting for just under 30% of the total new membership. At the current rate, GLRF may need to relocate to a posh office along the lower Thames.
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29 Jun 2009 - Vancouver; GLRF hosted a vendor booth at the 2009 USRowing Northwest Masters Regional Championship Regatta 26 – 28 Jun 2009. Under sunny skies, crews competed on mostly flat water with some occasional wind gusts that threw in a few start and finish complications (as well as booth display challenges). The event was held on Vancouver Lake in the city of Vancouver. For those who might be confused, there are two Vancouver’s in the northwest region of North America: Vancouver, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia.
 
For GLRF, the event offers a chance to develop awareness among a large geographic representation of attending clubs and rowers: 45 clubs participated from Alaska, Texas, New Jersey, California, Washington, Oregon, and almost every club in British Columbia. This year marks the third time GLRF has hosted a booth at the Northwest Masters Regional Championship. GLRF members from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia stopped by to say hello, and even after 6 years of GLRF’s presence on the regatta scene, several rowers came into the booth with surprise and wonder having not known of GLRF’s existence. The GLRF Bisweptual shirts were the hot ticket as rowers brought their entire team to the booth to view the shirt and read the GLRF.info dictionary definition of bi-swept-u-al.
 
USRowing hosts regional masters events all over the United States. Traditionally, the events are meant to offer local competition where clubs in a given regional area are given a competitive priority in a race (if an ex-regional club wins first place, the highest placing regional crew will also earn a gold medal). The US northwest region includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota. However, due to the tremendous increase in popularity for this event, the competitive priority rule has been suspended. As of this year, the competition is simply race and win. In the past four years, the regatta has experienced an exponential growth, with entries jumping from 500 to 900. This year alone saw a 100 + increase in crew participation: 970 people competed in 900 entries.
 
James Rawson, the USRowing Northwest representative indicated that time is so tight that the regatta committee has had to eliminate the traditional 20-minute breaks. The Friday race schedule starts after the coach and coxie meeting at 10:30h with races held on 6 minute centers from 12:00h to 18:30h and on Saturday and Sunday, races arer held on 7 minute centers beginning at 07:00h and extending to 17:30h and 15:00h, respectively. Rawson said that on a per capita basis, the Northwest Masters Regional Championship is as well subscribed as the US Masters National Championship, and has effectively reached its capacity in its current configuration and structure.
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Brilliant sunshine greeted GLRF members and other rowers from six countries (AU, BR, CH, DK, FR, UK) who gathered for the third hosting of the TdP Régate on Sunday, 31 May 2009 at la base nautique de Choisy-le-roi outside of Paris (see GLRF photo set taken in December 2006). Held in conjunction with the end of May weekend-long Tournament de Paris, an annual three-day LGBT multisport competition involving 11 sports and 2 fun events, the rowers competed on a 1500m. course. The sprint competition offered two preliminaries, a petit final, and a grand final.
 
Since only 20 rowers gathered for the event, lineups were selected by draw and crews took to the water to race on a 3-lane, timed course. Races were held in the C4+, a coxed quad that approximates a “wherry” (english translation) which is slightly wider than a traditional racing shell with a higher gunnel and free water line. Crews took turns as coxies, and the fastest three times advanced to the finals.
 
The previous year, the race format had been a course au piquet, known in English as a stake boat race. Regatta organizer and GLRF member Gilles F. explained that due to a plethora of sailboats on the rowing course, the previous TdP had to use a timed, piquet head race format. Since the rowing venue is only 1800m., the format had involved a 3,000m. down and back relay around a buoy. This year, with the absence of the armada of sailboats, crews could race side by side.
 
Following the races, participants gathered for a delicious afternoon picnic hosted by the Voile et Croisière en Liberté Sailing Club in the expansive park grounds alongside the Parc interdépartemental de Choisy-le-Roi offices and rowing clubs, and with a spectacular view of the water. With some rest, rich sunbathing, and good chat, the group returned to Paris for the big closing party at the Bercy Village.
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Three US cities have submitted bids to host Gay Games IX in 2014: Boston, Cleveland, and Washington. All three bids feature rowing in their sports compliment. Every bid must describe the venue, the organizational support, the expected participant makeup, the competition format, the anticipated budget and the cost for the sports fee for each participant. Current Gay Games event fees include both a participation fee and a sports fee.
 
Boston’s bid for the 2014 event is slated for the week of 26 Jul – 02 Aug 2014. The rowing competition is projected to be held on the Charles River, on a six-lane, 2k course over a three-day period, Monday 28 Jul – Wednesday, 30 Jul. Launch and recovery would be from the Weld Boathouse. The expected number of participants is listed between 100 and 150. The participation fees will be offered in a three-tier system for early, regular, and late: $135 - $190 - $200, respectively. The sports fee for rowing is $119. The Boston regatta would offer Novice, Open, Masters, and Adaptive events for men and women as well as the possibility of an Elite category. The bid includes the 7 most popular boat classes: 1x, 2x, 2-, 4x, 4-, 4+, and 8+.
 
Cleveland’s bid for the 2014 event is slated for the week of 09 Aug – 16 Aug 2014. The rowing competition is projected to be held on the Cuyahoga River adjacent to Lake Erie on a six-lane, 1k buoyed course over a three day period: Sunday, 10 Aug – Tuesday, 12 Aug. Launch and recovery would be from Wendy Park on Whiskey Island, a site that is a favored location by the Western Reserve Rowing Association for their summer regattas. The expected number of participants is listed at 80. The participation fee is slated to be $135 and the sports fee for rowing at $75. The Cleveland regatta would offer would offer Novice, Open, Masters, and Adaptive events for men and women as well as the possibility of an Elite category. The bid includes the 7 most popular boat classes: 1x, 2x, 2-, 4x, 4-, 4+, and 8+.
 
Washington’s bid for the 2014 event is slated for the week of 26 Jul – 02 Aug 2014. The rowing competition is projected to be held on the Potomac River on a six-lane, 1k buoyed course over a three-day period: Sunday, 27 Jul – Tuesday, 29 Jul. Launch and recovery would be from the Thompson’s Boat Center on the Georgetown side of the Potomac. The area is a frequent location for regattas from multiple rowing clubs in the Washington DC area. The expected number of participants is listed at 300. The hosting club, DC Strokes Rowing Club, has indicated that it would consider merging its annual Stonewall Regatta with the Gay Games regatta event. The participation fees will be offered in a four-tier system for launch, early, regular, and late registrations: $100 - $125 - $175 - $225, respectively. The sports fee for rowing is $100. The Washington regatta would offer Novice, Open, Masters, and Adaptive events for men and women as well as the possibility of an Elite category. The bid includes the 7 most popular boat classes: 1x, 2x, 2-, 4x, 4-, 4+, and 8+.
 
New in the bid process cycle for Gay Games IX is a new rule change that permitted the bidding cities more flexibility in their sports selections. Previous bidding requirements mandated that a bidding city offer all 22 “core” sports and then a selection of up to 8 authorized additional sports that together number no more than 30. Now bidding cities can choose to offer as few as 18 of the now 24 listed core sports, as well as new and additional sports to meet the 30 permitted sports.
 
The list of core sports has grown over the years with the expansion of aquatics from one to four separate core sports. Similarly, the list of additional sports has expanded to a list of 18 sports. Although rowing has never been included in the list of core sports, it has been listed as an authorized additional sport since 2002.
 
Members of the General Assembly of the Federation of Gay Games will vote on the bids at their annual meeting in Koeln, Germany the week of 26 Sep – 02 Oct 2009. The winner will be announced on 29 September 2009.
glrfcentral
The 2011 Rotterdam Eurogames will feature rowing as one of the featured sports events. The 1,000 meter competition is expected be held in the new championship rowing course currently under construction just outside of Rotterdam. The 10 million Euro project will meet the FISA class A requirements for an international standard rowing course.
 
The news follows a vote by the 2009 annual general assembly of the European Gay and Lesbian Federation, which gave a resounding endorsement to the unique joint Eurogames 2011/2012 bids presented by the cities of Rotterdam and Budapest. The combined bid is intended to showcase the duality of the free Western European society compared to the more restricted Eastern European society. The bid cities have received letters of support from the government and sports officials including an endorsement by the chair of the Netherlands Olympic Committee, Erica Terpstra. The two cities will cooperate in a unique volunteer exchange programme and use a shared registration platform.
 
There are two levels of Eurogames: large scale and small scale. The larger event is held once every four years and the smaller event is held annually. Eurogames are licensed by the European Gay and Lesbian Rowing Federation and are considered to be the largest athletic event for gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Europe
Since 2004, rowing has been a featured sport in every ‘large’ Eurogames event. The last large Eurogames, held in Barcelona in 2008, had rowing as a listed sport but the feature was canceled just days before the opening of athlete registration. See related story.
 
[Edit: Unfortunately, rowing had to be scratched due to the delay in the construction of the rowing facility in Rotterdam]

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