New Partners Contribute to 2017 Lotman Challenge Prize Purse

For Immediate Release: June 16, 2017

PRINCETON, N.J. -

An additional $11,000 in prize money will be awarded to the winning single scullers of the inaugural 2017 Herb Lotman United States Rowing Challenge, thanks to contributions from two rowing companies, Boathouse Apps and HereNow.

The event, announced in April by the Philadelphia Gold Challenge Cup Foundation in partnership with USRowing, the Head Of The Charles Regatta and the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta, aims to further promote and develop single sculling in the United States by awarding prize money to the top American men and women scullers accumulating the most points over the course of the three-race series.

"We are pleased that both Boathouse Apps and HereNow expressed interest in contributing towards the prize purse in the U.S. Lotman Challenge, further contributing to the impact this series can have on the development of sculling in the United States," said U.S. Lotman Challenge Organizer and Philadelphia Gold Cup Challenge Foundation Board Member Scot Fisher. "By having like-minded organizations come together in support of U.S. scullers, we are hopeful this will result in having U.S. athletes podium internationally in sculling events, as well as have an American name engraved on the Gold Cup once again."

The series includes open weight single sculls events at the USRowing Club National Championships on July 12-16 in Bethel, Ohio followed by the Head Of The Charles Regatta on Oct. 21 and culminates on Oct. 28 at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.

At the conclusion of the series, the American sculler in the men’s and women’s divisions with the most points will receive $9,000 with second place earning $3,500 and $1,500 going to third. In the event a rower finishes in the first position for all three events, the foundation will award $14,000.

"We are very excited to be part of the Lotman Challenge. Rowing has always been part of our lives, and we feel fortunate that we can give back to the sport and promote sculling through the Lotman Challenge," said Jonathan Stephanik and Andrew Hoffman, co-founders of Boathouse Apps, LLC.

"Sculling develops invaluable skills for all rowers, and highlights the struggles and achievements of the athletes," said HereNow founder Brian Reynolds. "Looking at the long-range goals in the United States to improve speed and win medals, encouraging more sculling seems like an obvious place to invest money and energy. HereNow is contributing to the Herb Lotman United States Rowing Challenge to support our aspiring scullers, and we look forward to this year’s competition."

More information about the 2017 Lotman Challenge can be found on the RegattaCentral website.

The Gold Cup is the most storied race in Philadelphia’s rich rowing history and one of the most exciting rowing competitions outside of the Olympic Games. The top amateur single scullers compete against each other in a sprint race on the famed Schuylkill River course. The Gold Cup was first awarded in 1922 to Vesper Boat Club’s John B. Kelly, Sr., after he won the 1920 Olympic gold medal in the single sculls. The Cup disappeared in the early 1960s, but was recovered by a group of rowing enthusiasts led by the late businessman and philanthropist Herb Lotman. It was run in 2011 for the first time in over 50 years and will be held again in 2018.

About Boathouse Apps, LLC

Boathouse Apps provides affordable, cross-platform mobile apps for teams, clubs, and regattas. For more information, visit http://usrowing.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d5c02818c891d2dba032f6a69&id=4d1057915f&e=47ca970be3.

About HereNow

HereNow Systems was formed in 2007 to create applications based on real-time location tracking technologies. The company is based in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, visit http://usrowing.us10.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d5c02818c891d2dba032f6a69&id=785212fa23&e=47ca970be3.

About USRowing

USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing has 83,000 individual members and 1,350 member organizations, offering rowing programs for all. USRowing receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors and partners.

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only