Schools Indoor Rowing League
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Children in Need Row 2026, 2 to 13 November. £5,949 raised by 9 teams so far.

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League

Rules

Everything you need to run your teams fairly — how the relays work, who can row in which category, and how standings are scored.

How the scoring works

The winning team in each category scores 100 points and everyone else scores a percentage of their result. For example, in a 1,000m distance round where the winner rows 4:00, a team rowing 5:00 scores 240 ÷ 300 × 100 = 80.00 points. In a timed round where the winner rows 2,000m, a team rowing 1,600m scores 1,600 ÷ 2,000 × 100 = 80.00 points. Season totals are the sum of all six monthly rounds — every round counts.

See the current standings

Points to remember

  1. Entry is free.
  2. Each challenge is a team relay on one Concept2 Indoor Rower.
  3. There are events for teams of eight and teams of four.
  4. Teams can choose any resistance setting — damper 1–3 is recommended.
  5. For Eights and Fours there are race categories for Years 5–6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12–13 (boys and girls), plus male and female adult teams (parents and staff).
  6. Year-group definitions vary by nation — see the equivalence table below.
    League category England & Wales Scotland N. Ireland Rep. of Ireland France Ages
    Y5/6 Y5/6 P6/7 Y6/7 – CM1/CM2 9–11
    Y7 Y7 S1 Y8 – 6ième 11/12
    Y8 Y8 S2 Y9 1st Year 5ième 12/13
    Y9 Y9 S3 Y10 2nd Year 4ième 13/14
    Y10 Y10 S4 Y11 3rd Year 3ième 14/15
    Y11 Y11 S5 Y12 4th Year 2ième 15/16
    Y12/13 Y12/13 S6 Y13/14 5th/6th Year 1ière/Terminale 16–18
  7. An adult team must include at least one staff member from the school or college.
  8. Each team of eight is eight boys or eight girls from the same year group.
  9. Each team of four is four boys or four girls from the same year group.
  10. Mixed-sex teams are allowed but must compete in the boys' challenges.
  11. Entries close at 11pm on the nominated close-of-entries day.
  12. When not rowing, team members may hold the rower's feet to save strapping time.
  13. Schools may enter as many teams as they like, but must differentiate them by team name if entering more than one in the same category.
  14. Team personnel can vary round to round (illness, injury and so on).
  15. Results must be entered online before entries close.
  16. Distance rounds: set the monitor for the prescribed distance and record the finish time, including tenths of a second.
  17. Timed rounds: set the monitor for the prescribed time and record the finish distance.
  18. Team members must change over inside the 20-metre zone after each relay leg — for example, in a 1,000m Eights round (8 × 125m), change every 115–135m.
  19. Rowers may row in any order, but no rower may do two legs consecutively.
  20. Standings are calculated as a percentage of the best result in each category. Distance rounds: winning time ÷ your time. Timed rounds: your distance ÷ winning distance.
  21. Teams from outside Britain and Ireland may enter.
  22. Each team can download a certificate of achievement at the end of the season.

Bonus round

  1. Relay teams of four.
  2. Each rower does a quarter of the time or distance on the same machine.
  3. You don't need to have taken part in the rest of the league to be eligible.
  4. Results are posted separately to the main standings.

Adult teams (parents and staff) compete in their own male and female categories and must include at least one staff member from the school.

Please note that Indoor Sport Services appreciate that age boundaries in school years are defined differently in the separate systems. For more on our rationale please see the League Age Rationale pdf document.