Rowing featured in all three bids for the 2014 Gay Games

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.