Festival Park at Oak Hollow Lake, – High Point will host the North Carolina Youth Rowing State Championships at Festival Park on Oak Hollow Lake on Saturday.
This is the second annual North Carolina state championship for youth rowing. Over 400 high school and middle school rowers from the top rowing clubs across the state will compete in 39 different boat classes. Rowers will come in from Asheville, Belmont, Charlotte, Jordan Lake and Raleigh to face off against home town crews from High Point and Greensboro.
The six clubs have entered 118 boats in this year’s event, an increase of almost 50% from last year reflecting the growth in the sport.
High Point’s Festival Park at Oak Hollow Lake was unanimously selected by coaches as the venue for its central location and the local organizing committee’s proven success at hosting regional rowing events.
Festival Park offers spectators unobstructed views of the entire 1,500 meter race course from an elevated location.
High Point and Greensboro will be racing as HPG Rowing, the “racing umbrella” for the two clubs foundered by High Point local Gene Kininmonth.
Whilst rowing is one of the oldest sports in America, it is still very new in the Tar Heel state. “With just six youth rowing clubs, North Carolina is still very much in the pioneering phase for this sport,” says High Point club founder Gene Kininmonth. “This presents us with lots of opportunities but also a lot of challenges when folks in our local communities are not familiar with rowing.”
Here is a look at the beauty of the sport of rowing and High Point’s Oak Hollow Lake in video:
HPRC – 2016 Fall Regatta from Carolina SkyWorks on Vimeo.
