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Seeding & lane assignments

Principles of seeding:

• More recent races are more important than older races.

• The closer the race distance is to 1500 meters, the more valuable the result.

• Times over a given racecourse are not significant. Margins between boats are significant.

• All results are counted. A race cannot be thrown out because of additional information (i.e. crew was without a key member, crew did not handle the water well, someone had recently switched sides, etc.)

• Programs who do not submit their results will not gain an advantage by doing so. If information is lacking, it may hurt the crew's seeding.

NEIRA Seeding

In 2007, the NEIRA adopted a change for the placement of crews in morning heats. Heats will be seeded from lane one sideways across the racecourse.

For events with two heats:

Lane	Heat 1	Heat 2

1	1	2
2	4	3
3	5	6
4	8	7
5	9	10
6	12	11

For events with three heats:

Lane	Heat 1	Heat 2	Heat 3

1	1	2	3
2	6	5	4
3	7	8	9
4	12	11	10
5	13	14	15
6	18	17	16

In the event of unfair wind conditions for the heats, the Head Referee could adopt a mirror image to these plans (seeding from lane 6 across to lane one.)

Lane assignments for the NEIRA

In order to minimize “racing for lanes” in the morning heats, the NEIRA adopted the following plan in 1985. If race officials do not think that there are unfair crosswinds, either Plan A or Plan B will be used for the finals. In both cases, crews are placed beginning in the center of the course and working towards the outside.

Two heat plan:

Plan A

Crew	Lane in Finals
3 rd place, Heat 1	1
2 nd place, Heat 2	2
1 st place, Heat 1	3
1 st place, Heat 2	4
2 nd place, Heat 1	5
3 rd place, Heat 2	6

Plan B

Crew	Lane
3 rd place, Heat 2	1
2 nd place, Heat 1	2
1 st place, Heat 2	3
1 st place, Heat 1	4
2 nd place, Heat 2	5
3 rd place, Heat 1	6

At some point during the lunch interval, the Race Committee is to flip a coin and announce whether Plan A or Plan B will be used.

Crosswind Contingency Plan

There are frequently cross headwinds on the Lake that raise the question of the fairness of lanes. If the Head Referee has questions about the fairness of the course based on wind conditions, he or she may elect to use plan C for the finals, whereby:

Plan C (Wind from Lane 1)

Crew	Lane
1 st place, Heat 1	1
1 st place, Heat 2	2
2 nd place, Heat 1	3
2 nd place, Heat 2	4
3 rd place, Heat 1	5
3 rd place, Heat 2	6

If Lane 6 is deemed to be the faster lane (rare at Quinsigamond), the Race Committee may assign the boats in the mirror image of Plan C. that is:

Plan D (Wind from Lane 6)

Crew	Lane
3 rd place, Heat 2	1
3 rd place, Heat 1	2
2 nd place, Heat 2	3
2 nd place, Heat 1	4
1 st place, Heat 2	5
1 st place, Heat 1	6

The same logic would apply to a race that had three heats. The favored lanes would go to the three heat winners.

Plans C and D may be deemed necessary at any point in the racing schedule . It is not necessary for all finals to use the plans.

If there are THREE HEATS , the plans read as follows:

Plan A

Crew	Lane
2 nd place, Heat 2	1
1 st place, Heat 3	2
1 st place, Heat 1	3
1 st place, Heat 2	4
2 nd place, Heat 1	5
2 nd place, Heat 3	6

Plan B

Crew	Lane
2 nd place, Heat 1	1
2 nd place, Heat 3	2
1 st place, Heat 2	3
1 st place, Heat 1	4
1 st place, Heat 3	5
2 nd place, Heat 2	6

Plan C (Wind from Lane 1)

Crew	Lane
1 st place, Heat 1	1
1 st place, Heat 2	2
1 st place, Heat 3	3
2 nd place, Heat 1	4
2 nd place, Heat 2	5
2 nd place, Heat 3	6

Plan D (Wind from Lane 6)

Crew	Lane
2 nd place, Heat 3	1
2 nd place, Heat 2	2
2 nd place, Heat 1	3
1 st place, Heat 3	4
1 st place, Heat 2	5
1 st place, Heat 1	6