Desert Sprints

  • Hosted By: Tempe Rowers Association
  • 2020 Registered Regatta

Thanks to Arizona weather, Tempe Town Lake has long been an excellent venue for sprint racing. The 2000m Albano buoyed race course is one of just six such courses in the western U.S., and makes for exciting, fast and fair racing. 

The Open and Junior races will all be 2000 meters, with a slight dog-leg to starboard after passing under the bridge (at about 1000M gone). The final 1000M is dead straight.

All Masters races will be 1000 meters, using US Rowing handicaps for those events.

The event headquarters is at the SRP Town Lake Marina, home of the Tempe Town Lake Rowing Club and the ASU Club Rowing Program. This location is where teams will have plenty of room to store their trailers and spread their equipment out on the grassy knoll along the lake. In addition, it offers clear viewing of the final 1000 meters of the race course, including the finish line. Tempe Town Lake and the SRP Marina are truly jewels in the desert.

NOTE: The east end of the lake has been extended since 2018. To view the race course and traffic patterns, click on the link below:

Desert Sprints Race Course Map (pdf download)

To view the layout of the on-shore venue—including parking, boat storage, tent areas, restrooms, etc.—click this link:

Desert Sprints Land Map (png file)