The rowing world’s elite are heading to Monaco for the Prince Albert II Challenge this weekend, which will feature a traditional endurance race alongside sprints, mixed doubles and solo competitions.  

Now in its 18th year, the Prince Albert II Challenge is set to bring a dramatic conclusion to the rowing season over two days, from 2nd to 3rd December.  

BIG NAMES AND BIG PRIZES 

As every year, the Challenge has attracted some pretty serious contenders, and organisers say that there will be a total of 110 participants making up 22 teams from 18 nations in the 2023 edition.  

Of these, there are 24 world champions, 10 Olympians and the two Tokyo Olympic medallists Marieke Keijser and Magdalena Lobnig.  

The healthy cash awards will see the winning team take home €4,000, while the second placing team will receive €3,000. The team in third will get €2,000 and there is also a €1,000 prize for fourth. 

UNIQUE FORMAT 

Teams are made up of two women, two men and a cox, who can be any gender. At least one member of the individual teams must take part in each of the Challenge races.  

The races themselves will be a mix of four-kilometre endurance races in the waters off the Principality as well as 500 metre sprints as tests of speed.  

Each race counts for the general classification and the team with the greatest number of points at the end will win. 

The Sunday finals are to be held along the coastline, rather than offshore, for better spectator viewing, and drones and on-boards will also be used in order to live stream the races as they happen on YouTube and Facebook. 

For more information and the full schedule, visit the official website here.

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Photo credit: Ed Wright Images