Note: subject to change. The following section applies only to MIXED and OPEN crews. If weather or other circumstances force us to shorten our racing schedule, appropriate changes will be made to the progression scheme.

 

 

The first race that you race on Saturday will be the challenge cup race. Teams have been divided into groups based on some common factor, such as being affiliated with an educational institution, a government institution, consulting firm, etc. For teams that do not fit in a specific challenge category, they will race in a generic Community or Corporate challenge.

 

The winner (based on best time) of each challenge group will win their respective “challenge cup,” which consists of a trophy and the satisfaction of knowing that you’re the fastest team on the water in your challenge category.

 

Note: Because some challenge divisions may be larger than 4 teams, your finish position in the first race does not matter, rather the winner will be determined by the best time in the first round among teams in a challenge division.

 

 

The times from this first challenge race will be used to determine which division you will be in. All teams in the Mixed and Open division will be ranked based on their first heat time, 1st through last.

 

The fastest 7 teams will be placed in the A division, the most competitive and respected division in the festival.  

 

The second fastest 7 teams will be placed in the B division, the next 7 will be in the C division, etc. This division will determine your competition for the rest of the day.

 

 

The second race of the day on Saturday will be the SEMI FINALS for your division.   You will race against other teams from your division. There will be two semi final races for your division: one with 4 boats, and one with 3 boats. 

 

The first place finishing team from each semi-final race and the fastest of the two second place finishers will go to the MAJOR Finals for your division.

 

The rest of the teams (generally 4 teams) will go to the MINOR Finals for your division. 

 

Should the festival be running behind schedule, the semi-final races will be cut beginning with the slowest division as needed to ensure that racing will be completed on time. In this case, teams in the lower divisions will be advanced directly to their division major and minor finals based on the times from the first heat (i.e., the challenge race). That is the three fastest teams in the division will move to the MAJOR final and the slower four teams to the MINOR final. 

 

 

MAJOR FINALS: If you are in the MAJOR FINALS, you will race in a final to determine the medalists for the division. The major finals are a head-to-head race with the other best teams of your division. There will be three teams in each Major Final race, all of which will receive medals. The finish order of this race will determine gold, silver, and bronze medal winners.  

 

MINOR FINALS: We will run minor finals for all divisions, unless we are forced to shorten our racing schedule.   There will be four teams in this final, and the FIRST PLACE team will receive a gold medal.

 

If we do not run a head-to-head race for your minor final, then the FASTEST TEAM in that minor final will be determined by looking at your team’s time from the Semi-final race.   The fastest team will receive a gold medal.

 

 

 

All teams will run a 500m heat first thing on Sunday. 

 

Seeding in this heat will be based on finish times from the 250m finals. Based on these 250m finish times, MIXED teams will be broken into an Upper, Middle, and Lower mixed classification (top 10 in the Upper, next 13 in the Middle, and next 9 in the lower). All teams will then run their 500m heat and be seeded into Semi-Final races based on these times. This heat will allow teams to move up or down a division based on their 500m race times rather than their 250m times.

 

Based on finish times and position from the 500m heat, teams will either be seeded into a semi-final or advanced directly to a final. In the Mixed division, A-C divisions will run a semi-final. In the Open division, only A division teams will run a semi-final.

 

Advancement to the final will vary based on whether a semi-final is run. For divisions where a semi-final is held, the two first place finishing teams and the fastest second place team will advance to the Major final. The remaining teams will advance to the Minor final. For divisions where a semi-final is not held, teams will be advanced directly to their division finals based on the 500m heat.

 

MAJOR FINALS: If you are in the MAJOR FINALS, you will race in a final to determine the medalists for the division. The major finals are a head-to-head race with the other best teams of your division. There are three teams in each MAJOR final race, all of which will receive medals. The finishing order in this race will determine the awarding of gold, silver, and bronze medals.

 

MINOR FINALS: We will run minor finals for all teams if time permits.   If we are forced to shorten our racing schedule, the minor finals will be the first races to get eliminated from the race schedule.

 

If we run a head-to-head race for your minor final, there will be four teams, and the FIRST PLACE finishing team will receive a gold medal.

 

If we do not run a head-to-head race for your minor final, then the FASTEST TEAM in that minor final will be determined by looking at your team’s time from the Semi-final race.   The fastest team will receive a gold medal.

 

In some cases, the number of teams in a class of racers (e.g., Open classification) results in an odd number of teams remaining after 7 team divisions is formed. For example, if 17 Open teams exist, the A and B divisions would include the top 14 teams. The remaining teams, if there are not enough to form their own division, will be placed in a Tail race. This tail race will be run in the same fashion as a Minor Final, with the first place finisher in the tail race receiving a gold medal.

 

Should a Tail division be required, that division would then have three semi-final races. In this case, the first place finisher from each semi-final will advance to the Major Final. The three second place finishers and fastest third place finisher will move to the Minor Final. The remaining teams will advance to the Tail Final.

 

In the 2010 DC Dragon Boat Festival, there are currently 3 BCS teams registered. Rather than run a heat, semi-final, and final among the same teams, medals will be determined based on cumulative time across three races. Each team will race once in each lane to ensure fairness.

DC FESTIVAL CUP:

If time permits, a DC Festival Cup will be raced at the end of the day on Sunday. This 500m race will feature the top teams in the Mixed classification from each challenge category (excluding premier). That is, the top community team, top government team, top educational team, etc. Seeding in this race will be based on 500m Heat 1 times across each category. Teams eligible to participate in this cup race will be posted shortly after the conclusion of the first round. The top three finishers in this DC Festival Cup race will receive a trophy.