Does USRowing drug test Junior Rowers?

Question

More specifically at the Northeast Regional Championships this year.

Answer 1

Is there a Northeast Regional Championship?  I think the only USRowing regional regattas are in the Northwest (juniors and masters), Southwest (juniors, masters, open), Midwest (masters) and Southeast (juniors and masters, I think).  There are plenty of other junior regattas in the Northeast, but if the regatta is not "owned" by USRowing, USRowing does not have a say in what happens there.

Okay, having said that, I will say that the Control Commission (a group supplied by the LOC--local organizing committee of the regatta) does, in theory have the right to test competitors for drugs--and to test the weight of your boat, the thickness of your oars, and a bunch of other things that you can find out about in the Rules of Rowing.  In practice, though, they are so stressed and over-worked that they just look for safety stuff like heel ties and obvious stuff like underweight coxswains and overweight lightweights.

I am more familiar with youth rowing in the Northwest, so things may be different in your part of the country, but I have *never* heard of junior rowers being tested for drugs.  Juniors and masters are not subjected to the same scrutiny as elite competitors.

If you really need to know, I suggest contacting (or having your coach contact) the regatta organizers and having your coach check out any meds you may be taking.  If you are a junior, you are probably too young to remember the great Canadian rower Silken Lauman being disqualified from an international regatta because of some over-the-counter cold product she had taken.  Not being able to breathe during a race is a bummer, but in those days many products contained ephedrines and similar drugs, which were/are banned.  I don't know exactly what was in her medicine, but it was something she had bought legally and used with no intent to gain an unfair advantage.  Nevertheless, it was on the banned list and she was DQ'd.

Answer 2

yes they do!