On November 24th, 2023 National Coastal Rowing Championship kicked off in Songlanshan Tourism Resort, Xiangshan County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province.
    At the opening ceremony, nearly 200 athletes and coaches from 13 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) gathered at the east beach of Songlan Mountain to compete fiercely for the gold medals in men’s single sculls, women’s single sculls and mixed double sculls.
    It is reported that coastal rowing is a new event in the world rowing family, and three events in this national coastal rowing championship have been selected for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
    Coastal rowing is divided into beach sprint, endurance race and long-distance journey race. The beach sprint mode is adopted in this competition.
    The race starts from the beach, and the athletes need to quickly run to the rowing boat docked at the beach, jump into the boat, return to the beach after the rowing boat bypasses a specific buoy, and then jump out of the rowing boat and cross the finish line on the beach. It is a competitive, antagonistic, interesting and ornamental sea sports event.
    In the three individual time trials of the day, the competition scene was very intense. According to Zhao Lei, the leader of Zhejiang Sailing Team, coastal rowing has very high requirements for rowers’ rowing skills, adaptability to wind and waves, and explosive power of sprinting. This competition will also lay the foundation for the development and seedling selection of this project in China.
    Coastal rowing is an aerobic competitive sport, and the impact on the knee joint is almost zero. At the same time, it is also a sport that covers 80% of the muscle groups in the whole body, which can improve the coordination and balance of the body.
    The relevant person in charge of Xiangshan County Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau introduced that the Songlanshan Tourism Resort in Ningbo, the venue of the event, is a blend of mountains and seas, with many headlands, and the coastline of 22.5 kilometers from north to south has the largest land beach group in East China. Especially the East Beach on the seashore is a crescent beach with a length of 900 meters and a width of 200 meters and an area of about 150,000 square meters. The average depth of the bay is 14 meters, the water is clear and calm, and it is equipped with shower room, dressing room and other infrastructure. It is an ideal coastal rowing venue, and the Zhejiang Sailing Training Base is also located here. The holding of this competition will expand the deep integration of marine sports and tourism in Xiangshan, and continue to build an IP that deepens "marine sports to see Xiangshan". (Zhang Xiaotong/Wen Xu Neng/map)