There sure is something about the Snow Row that sets it aside from all other rowing events. Is it because it is the first race of the season? Or perhaps the Le Mans start, or the history of the event? Whatever it is, I am sure you all agree, it is an exciting race. This year was no different; not counting whale boats, there were about 30 gigs on the beach. More than I have ever seen in one place before. The day started with a snow flurry that somehow was appropriate and set the stage nicely. It was particularly nice to see the hero of the 2011 Snow Row, Jan Reddy, in attendance (I knew you would find a way not to miss it). Both the men in the Interceptor and the women racing in the Jenness came in second behind Belfast. A respectable finish given Belfast's boats are more than 300 pounds lighter than ours. Not to mention that the girls boat was cut off at the start where collisions and broken thole pins were what they had to deal with. Congratulations to Belfast; they have, under Malcolm's direction, put a very strong program together and have raised the bar to become great rivals for Saquish. What a great sport we have all happened on to. Congratulations to all.
Team Saquish is gearing up for this year's Snow Row on March 10. Here are some photos of the men's team (Dennis Reddy, Kurt Bittrolff, Peter Smith, Jim Brennan, Sterling Wall, and Rick Anderson; Peter Oberto, Cox).
Team Saquish will be hosting the annual East Coast Open Water Rowing Championship for rowers, kayakers, and paddlers on 9 October 2011. The 3‐mile race is at Nelson Beach in Plymouth, MA. Race time is anticipated for 9:00 AM. Registration begins at 7:30 AM and all entrants must be registered by 8:30 AM. Race briefing will be held on site at 8:45 AM. Entry fee is $25 per participant. Entry form available here.
The following segment aired on the 6:00 evening news on WBZ CBS on March 23, 2011. It's a nice piece of coverage of a defining moment in Team Saquish rowing history. Not enough can be said of the seven women involved. Their actions reflect tremendous credit upon themselves, Team Saquish, and the overall spirit and tradition of open water rowing.
This year's Snow Row is one that will not soon be forgotten. The entire Saquish fleet was on the water, with each crew having their own story to tell at the end of the day. Congratulations to the men of the Interceptor for bringing back the coveted golden clam shell to Saquish Rowing. The Tucker, crewed by the Mother Tuckers and coxed by Master and Commander Sterling Wall, also was a winner with the best time in its class - well done. The most important story of the day, however, was the crew of the Jenness and their rescue of five rowers who were capsized, found and saved. With Janet Reddy's skill with the rudder, I hear each rower was plucked from the sea one by one, unharmed. Congratulations! A proud moment for us all.
Due to wind conditions, the ECOWRC will be held on Sunday, October 10. Same time and schedule.
Planning in well underway for the 2010 East Coast Open Water Rowing Championship, which will be held on October 9. Basic information can be found here, and the full race site is www.eastcoastopenwaterrowingchampionship.org, where you'll find all the details.
The Saquish Rowers had an amazing day once again! The weather could not have been better. We had one of our largest group of rowers: three gigs and two coxed fours. 31 of our rowers competed this year. Over 105 boats participated in this year's Snow Row with and estimated 300+ rowers.
For our women's team, I will say as their cox, these girls are amazing; we never practiced together once as a team, we rowed a total of four times. We had injuries, a team shift at the last moment, and the worst start in rowing history. We were T-boned by the Belfast men's team in the Selkie at the start. Three rowers hit in the face with oars, two taken off their seat, and the poor cox - with an oar in her face and no where to go - grabbed the oar to push it over her head as their stroke pulled the oar back causing four lacerations to her hand. Heading out in next-to-last place we went, the spirit in our boat was relentless. I can't say enough about the will of this team. As we started passing one gig after another, I knew these girls wanted it bad. We pushed and gave 150% and then as we came around Sheep's Island, there was our competition about four boat lengths ahead of us. Shaving every morsel off the course, we took the Belfast women's team just after the Island and never gave the lead back, although they were right on our butts. I truely thought we didn't have a prayer, but I knew that this group was strong and they pulled off our eighth win in a row. Rumor has it that WE are the ones that Belfast, New Bedford, and Gloucester want to beat, and by the skin of our teeth, we held on to our trophy!
To the crew in the Tucker, they had their fair share of mishaps as well. Serious boat issues that resulted in very little practice, if any, a horrific crash at their start, yet they still pulled off a win. GREAT JOB!!
Then there were those crazy guys in the Australian Lifeboat that had a great start, didn't capsize, and felt that practicing was too dangerous, so they just drank instead. Unfortunately, our men's team - that practiced like dogs and gave it their all - for the first time in 14 years of Saquish rowing history lost to another US team and the Selkie from Belfast Maine took the win.
The team in the Interceptor was put together 48 hours before the race, never practiced, had a new cox, two first time Snow Row rowers, and a stroke that jumped in at the last minute for an injured rower, plus fill-in rowers from Gloucester and England. The cox, Cathy Jenness, had never done the Snow Row before but got ready for the race in just 48 hours by doing her Wii Bowling. The crew had a challenging start, but kicked butt and finished the race with their heads held high. Great job!!!!!
Our men's team competed successfully at the Crash-Bobs on Saturday where Jim Brennan pulled a remarkable 17:54 on the 5K to win that event outright, as did Peter Smith in the 2k with a 6:57. Ian Dargin participated in the grueling "Liffman Challenge," a 5k erg followed by a 5k run where he was first in his age group and 2nd overall. Sterling pulled a strong 7:48 on the 2k to win his class and one of the coveted hammers. Bailey Smith (Peter's daughter) from Cape Cod Rowing was along as well and made a 7:58 2k look easy to win the women's division outright. Great job to all those who participated.
The men's team has been practicing 3 times a week as of late. Saturday and Sunday mornings, as well as Thursday, late afternoon into the evening. They have had some extreme weather conditions, including some sub-12-degree practice sessions! Chris is working them hard, and they are enjoying (almost) every minute of it. The Thursday evening "debriefing" sessions at the East Bay Grill are keeping the crew motivated. The team is heading to the " Crash-Bobs" in Hull this Saturday for the indoor rowing competition, and some of crew are heading to the CRASH-Bs (world indoor rowing championships) on February 14th. Good luck guys!
|
RSS Feed