The British Indoor Rowing Championships (BIRC) is an indoor rowing event organised by The Rowing Company. It first began in 1991 with the first event held in Henley-on-Thames attracting 200 competitors. Over the years it outgrew all of its venues and has been held since 2000 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The 2005 championships had over 3,000 entrants and is currently the world 's biggest indoor rowing event and Britain's biggest mass-participation indoor sporting event. Olympic rowing gold medalists Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent have won open titles at the event in the past.
However, in 2012 British Indoor Rowing Championships were held at Nottingham University.
The races are separated Men, Lightweight Men, Women, and Lightweight Women - with these further split into age categories. All competitors over 16 race 2,000 m (the Olympic rowing distance) with shorter time-based events for Juniors.
There are also team races where teams of four race 4,000 m as a relay.
The event is staffed by the University of Birmingham Boat Club and the University of Warwick Boat Club.
In 2014, it was announced that the event had been taken over by British Rowing and would be rebranded as the British Rowing Indoor Championships. The first event under the new name was held on the 8th February 2015 at the Lee Valley VeloPark.