Homerace - A Virtual racing system

With the emergence of the COVID-19 virus, our ideas for a distributed racing system were put together and we developed a working concept in mere days. Within a few weeks the first version was available and used by several groups across the world. Currently, Homerace continues our work on indoor regatta development to let people compete against each other in real-time from their home or any other location across the globe. In addition to the regular personal data shown on your erg, the system allows you to see your competitors directly on your Concept2 erg monitor and the rest of the field on your laptop screen via our Indoor rowing race visualisation. Whether it is a training or race, you do it together with the group you signed up with.

Homerace supports the PM5 monitor, but is also backwards compatible with the PM4 and PM3 monitor and will work on any operating system. Set up your time or distance race, in advance, through an online form and invite your competitors. Connect your erg in a few steps and wait for your opponents to gather in the lobby and race in either singles, doubles, quads, or eights. After each race, your results will be stored on our website to share and distribute with others.

Want to do a virtual regatta? We are able to supply you with a system that is fully integrated with our Web-based Regatta Management platform. Our regatta managers help you to run your races, execute the progressions, communicate smoothly and work with your umpires and/or LOC in determining the best course of action during the event.

Our first event using Homerace took place on 13nd of June 2020. The Electronic Rowing Games or simple ERG were organized during the COVID-19 crisis as a way to give athletes a goal to work towards. In addition, all proceeds of the event went to charities that support health services and organizations fighting the pandemic. To support the organization we’ve sponsored our services fully such that the profit for charity was maximized. In the end, athletes from 13 nationalities competed at the event.

With the British Rowing Virtual Championships, we had a big event with over 1200 entries, from 28 different countries across different categories. The whole event was streamed on YouTube and it received much appreciation from the rowing community. It shows that virtual racing offers great potential to include a great number athletes not only from different countries, but all ages, degrees of competition, and can even be held under lockdown circumstances.