{"id":221946,"date":"2026-03-16T11:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/221946\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:12:13","slug":"rowing-stories-features-interviews-marine-stadium-in-2026-a-look-at-the-la-2028-rowing-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/221946\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowing Stories, Features & Interviews | Marine Stadium in 2026: A Look at the LA 2028 Rowing Venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

See our gallery of the venue here<\/a>. <\/p>\n


\nAs we did for the Beach Sprints venue, row2k visited the LA2028 rowing venue at Marine Stadium in Long Beach to have a look at the course a couple years and change out from the racing. Here is what we found at the 1932 and 2028 Olympic venue, including thoughts on the competitive challenges, the spectator experience, the venue history, and more. <\/p>\n


\nSee also our original article from 2019, which includes additional information as well as thoughts from local club leaders at Short Course? The Long Beach Marine Stadium 2028 Olympic Proposal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"View <\/p>\n

View toward the finish from the Second St bridge<\/p>\n


\nHistory <\/p>\n


\nMarine Stadium was dredged and built for the 1932 Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles; a placard along the northeast shore in the Peter Archer Rowing Center parking lot reads as follows: <\/p>\n

Long Beach Marine Stadium Created in 1932 for the rowing events uf the Xth Olympiad, the stadium was the first manmade rowing course in the United States. Its width allowed four teams to race abreast, eliminating additional heats and allowing oarsmen to enter the finals at the peak of their form. <\/p>\n


\nLater it served as the venue for the 1968 and 1976 United States Men’s Olympic rowing trials and the 1984 United States Women’s Olympic rowing trials. The site remains an important training and competitive center for rowers, including our National and Olympic teams. <\/p>\n


\nCalifornia Registered Historical Landmark No. 1014 <\/p>\n


\nPlaque placed by the state Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America, the City of Long Beach and the local community, April 29 1995<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n


\nThe venue is used daily as a practice venue by Long Beach State, the Long Beach Rowing Association, and the Long Beach Juniors, and all regularly hold regattas using all of the current infrastructure. <\/p>\n


\nCourse Distance <\/p>\n


\nThe 1500m race distance that will be used in 2028 is obviously the most remarked-upon concern; with a tailwind and any current (and maybe even without much help), races under four minutes will definitely happen. <\/p>\n


\nThe distance from the end of the full channel to the current finish line officials hut<\/a> is almost exactly 2000m \u2013 so technically even now you could row a full row2k (sic) through the bridge. <\/p>\n

\"Current <\/p>\n

Current finish line judges hut<\/p>\n


\nThis stretch comprised the full racecourse before the J.H. Davies Bridge on Second St in Long Beach was built in 1955. <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The J.H. Davies Bridge – which could make for a savage overhead view of the start if spectators are allowed up there<\/p>\n


\nMeanwhile, the distance from the same starting hut to the near end of the bridge is exactly 1.50km; the Long Beach juniors race currently race 1400m from the bridge to the officials hut, so it is likely that the finish tower would be a bit northwest of the current finish line. <\/p>\n


\nFor a time \u2013 notably pre-Agenda 2020 \u2013 there was a plan under consideration to remove the bridge pillars to create a clean 2k stretch \u2013 which you can read about here<\/a>. <\/p>\n


\nThe course is well-marked \u2013 if it survives the course upgrade, this 500 meter marker would be hard to miss. <\/p>\n

\"1000 <\/p>\n

1000 meter marker<\/p>\n


\nSpectator Experience <\/p>\n


\nNot unlike the Beach Sprints venue about a mile away, despite known questions about the competitive experience, the spectator experience at Marine Stadium could be epic. The course is almost wholly surrounded by a cushion of beaches, park spaces, parking lots, and roadways that could easily accommodate grandstands, temporary buildings, strollways, TV vehicle paths, and other accoutrements of a major Olympic regatta. <\/p>\n


\nIt is easy to imagine being able to walk along the course from your seats in the last 500 meters or so up to the start and back \u2013 even for there to be General Admission areas on both sides of the top of the course where folks could watch starts, settles, really the entire race. Seeing the finish is ideal, of course, but it would not be unlike watching a marathon or a long-distance skiing race from a spot right along the racecourse. <\/p>\n

\"Beach <\/p>\n

Beach at the start<\/p>\n

\"Crowds <\/p>\n

Crowds watching eights racing at the 1932 Olympics. Photo courtesy of University of Southern California and California Historical Society<\/p>\n


\nAs mentioned in the caption above, if spectators are allowed up on the bridge, it would offer a savage, truly best-ever view of a rowing racing start. <\/p>\n


\nInterestingly, remnants of the 1932 oil derricks remain; this photo<\/a> is right behind what would be behind a starboard-side finish line grandstand, and this photo<\/a> looks to the northeast of the starting line. <\/p>\n


\nTides, Seaweed, Current, Wildlife <\/p>\n


\nThe waterway is definitely tidal; as the tide went out during row2k\u2019s visit, the dropping tide line exposed seaweed along the beaches and rocks. <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The tide swings are fairly serious<\/p>\n


\nThere could be an issue with seaweed and fins at the lower tides; a couple motorboaters appeared to need to clear seaweed from their props when they turned up near the starting line. On the other hand, speedboats and skiers were having no problems a bit further down the course, so the overall weed situation is probably manageable. <\/p>\n

\"If <\/p>\n

If he can get through here on a foil, a rowing shell will have no problems<\/p>\n


\nDuring row2k\u2019s visit, there was also very visible current from the Colorado Lagoon that is northwest of the finish line, such that it would create a head current, especially in the lanes along the northwest side of the course. However, a project to completely overhaul the current lagoon bathymetry such that it is fully tidal along with the full channel is expected to be finished in 2026 \u2013 so (as best I can tell at least<\/a>) the flow from the lagoon would most likely just be part and parcel of the overall tidal nature of the waterway. <\/p>\n

\"Current <\/p>\n

Current from the Colorado Lagoon flowing onto the course<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The churn from the current does go up the course<\/p>\n


\nThe waterway continues directly into the ocean right next to the long jetty that can be seen from the Beach Sprints venue, spilling into the Pacific just south of Seal Beach. When we were there, there was a decent swell landing a Seal Beach, but I did not see any waves making it to the racecourse; there are probably too many twists and turns before you get to the course for any wave action to get through. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n


\nEvery bit as much as the presence of sea lions at the Beach Sprints venue, the connection of Marine Stadium to the Pacific was made very clear; while viewing the racecourse from the 2nd St Bridge, this dolphin made its way straight down the middle of the racecourse on its way back to the open ocean. <\/p>\n

\"Dolphin <\/p>\n

Dolphin going under the bridge toward the ocean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See our gallery of the venue here. As we did for the Beach Sprints venue, row2k visited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-221946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}