Beach venue for new Comm Games water sport

GEELONG region beaches are set to host Commonwealth Games events in 2026 with the addition of coastal rowing to the sports program.

The state government and Games federations finalised its list of sports for the Games, which will see golf, 3×3 basketball, coastal rowing, shooting, BMX and track cycling added to a list of core sports announced earlier this year.

Coastal rowing, golf and BMX would appear in the international event for the first time, while Victoria 2026 will also aim to add para disciplines for all the newly introduced sports.

Coastal rowing will appear in its beach sprints format – which involves head-to-head contests where a rower runs from the beach to a boat to its waiting crew, who races around two buoys before a sprint finish back on the sand.

Rowing Australia chief executive officer Ian Robson welcomed the inclusion of the ocean discipline to the Games program, after rowing had not appeared in any form since Edinburgh in 1986.

“This is a fantastic milestone moment for our sport. We have worked very hard to bring Rowing back to the Commonwealth Games.

“I would like to thank World Rowing, the Commonwealth Rowing Association and Rowing Victoria for joining with Rowing Australia to ensure that the EOI submission was fully supported and aligned with our collective growth ambitions for our great sport.”

While organisers are yet to confirm the exact location of coastal rowing, the sport’s need for an ocean setting means Geelong firms as the most likely host.

Surf Coast and Bellarine beaches are far more readily accessible from a planned athlete’s village in Geelong compared with Gippsland, where Games infrastructure would be further inland near major towns.

Other hosts of the regional Victorian Games – Ballarat, Bendigo and newly-announced Shepparton – are without necessary beach access.

The local region’s golf courses, especially on the Bellarine, would also put forward a strong case to host the sport’s Commonwealth Games debut given its proven track record hosting professional standard events such as the Victorian Open and Thirteenth Beach Golf Links.

Commonwealth Games Australia president Ben Houston said inclusion of the new sports for the Victorian event would “take the Games into an exciting new era”.

But the completed program was a disappointment for lifesaving sports bodies, who failed to win inclusion in the coming event.

Life Saving Victoria and its national and international counterparts had submitted a bid for surf and indoor lifesaving events to be held on the Surf Coast in 2026 but was omitted from the final sport program.