2010 World Rowing Coastal Championship to be held in Istanbul

“2010 World Rowing Coastal Championship ” will be held in Istanbul next year by with the support of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. A contract to include the “2010 World Rowing Coastal Championship” into the Agency projects was signed between the President of Turkish Rowing Federation Ilhami Isseven and Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency Secretary General Yilmaz Kurt on 20 October in the Agency office.World Rowing Championships organized by International Federation of Rowing Associations (FISA) every year will be held in Turkey for the first time in 2010 within the maritime projects supported by Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. Approximately 300 athletes will participate in the championship which will be held on 22-25 October 2010.FISA’s Rowing for All Commission member Lionel Girard said that choosing Turkey was a strategic decision to help increase the number of countries involved in coastal rowing. “Turkey has a strong program for the development of coastal rowing because of the huge possibilities offered by its coastline” says Girard.The championships will act as a springboard for Turkey into coastal rowing with 45 to 50 FISA standard coastal boats being purchased for the event. “These boats will be used after to create coastal clubs or to include coastal rowing in existing clubs,” says Girard. This also means that, for the first time, rowers will not have to bring their boats to the event as all boats will be supplied.Confronting the open sea in a rowing boat is obviously not quite the same as Olympic rowing, where the requirement is to row in a straight lane, preferably on very flat water and with very little wind. Coastal rowers do not row on flat water. A competition without any waves is, for coastal rowers, utterly devoid of interest.The event to be held in Istanbul in 2010 will render nearly 300to join together in “sports” as a common denominator and get acquainted with historical and cultural wealth of Istanbul. It is thus targeted that our country will b largely promoted in the international arena as Istanbul will gain higher added value on international level with regard to social and cultural aspects.