USRowing National Championship Postponed!

After running some blustery heats this morning USRowing officials have succombed to the will of Mercer Lake. Evening events that were postponed several times were finally moved to tomorrow morning. Cross-tail wind gusts of up to 25 mph buffeted the course through mid day and the better part of the evening. Crews will have some early mornings tomorrow to perpare for their displaced reps, semis, and finals.

The Dad Vail Quad.

On May 15th we wrote a piece entitled “An Eight for all Seasons” . In it we discussed the need for the rowing community to commit to developing sculling, namely at the club level. Since then we have written several emails to some members of the DVRA (Dad Vail Regatta Assoc.) committee urging them consider adding at least one sculling event to their regatta. During our very limited correspondence the following question was posed:

“All things equal what events would you suggest eliminating since the regatta already is 2, 11 hour days.”

One only need look to regattas such as Stotesbury to find solutions to compress the schedule enough to accommodate the addition of sculling boats without eliminating any events. On Friday morning at Stotesbury (day 1 of 2), roughly 802 boats (nearly double the total number of Dad Vail Boats for the entire day) traveled down the Schuylkill River. Hosting a head race style heat (a format used at U.S. National Selection Regattas) for Freshman boats alone would free up nearly 100 minutes of the schedule; enough to host a men’s and women’s quad event with heats, semis and finals of 36 or fewer entries.

If the rowing community was opposed to changing the overall format of the regatta to include a time trial there are yet other options that could be explored. Considering, the largest financial contributors (small boats) to the regatta already do not get the benefit of a second final, or reps, all petite finals and repercharges could be eliminated from the schedule. Freeing 50 minutes from the schedule would provide ample time to add a men’s and women’s quad event with heats and finals of 18 or fewer entries (A format used for the D1/D2 women’s eight).

There are thousands of ways to save time and fit sculling into this regatta without cutting events, but it is up to the DVRA committee to decide the future of this event. The reality is that in a regatta that is supposed to be tailored to the development of our club athletes and smaller programs, the SUV of events still rule. Because the format (and entry fess) of the regatta highlight the eight, crews that have the potential to make boats that could compete internationally at U23 and Junior Worlds elect to make mediocre eights that fill out the lower half of the Petite Final at IRA’s. Dad Vail crews, who represent the majority of the rowing population are getting set up to fail. There are club athletes in this country that will graduate from college and find a spot on a national team within a few years. Why not help them get there sooner? Wouldn’t you think it may be easier to get funding from your Universities if your club fielded a competitive lightweight international quad?

5 American Crews will Travel to Amsterdam for the 2nd World Cup

5 American Crews will Travel to Amsterdam for the 2nd World Cup stop to compete in the Men’s 1x, Men’s 2x, Women’s LW2x, Men’s LW2x, and Men’s 4x.

The men’s LW2x have not officially rowed the time standard and could look to do so at this gorgeous course. If they can row time standard here, or finish in the top 6 they will lock up the qualification requirements for World Championships and can avoid racing in an open trial later this year so it will be an important race for them. With very fast crews from Great Britain, Denmark, France, and Austria, making the “A” final would be a very good result.

American racing fans will also be very interested to see how the LW2x of Wendy Tripician (Campenella) and Jana Heere will fare at this regatta. The former duo of Renee Hykel and Julia Nichols set a high standard by winning bronze at Lucerne last year, but lost their trial to the Vesper double earlier this year. Tripician/Heere have already met the minimal requirements and will represent the U.S. in the LW2x at this years World Championships, regardless of the outcome next weekend. However, if they are thinking about the Olympics, this will be an important first step.

The Men's 4x of Shane O'Mara, Mark Flickinger, Michael Perry, and Sloan Du Ross will travel to Amsterdam this weekend as well. While the second 4x of Franis Cuddy, Deaglan Mceachern, Jamie Schroeder, and Warren Anderson will compete domestically at the USRowing National Championships. I get the impression that spots in the 4x may still be in flux so both of these boats will be racing hard to earn a spot in the first boat. The outcome of these two regattas may play a big role in deciding what the final lineup may be.

The men's 2x of Matt Hughes and Sam Stitt will head to Amsterdam this weekend to compete in one of the toughest international sculling events. In order to find a U.S. crew that has medaled at World Championships in this event we have to look back over 30 years to John van Blom and Thomas McKibbon who medaled in the 1970 World Championships. The infamous Enquis/Lewis double was the last to win a medal at the Olympics in 1984, and the Henry Nuzum/Aquil Abdullah came out of no where to qualify for the final in 2004. This double has yet to show what they can really do, but rest assured they will be tested at this regatta.

John Burns, a Vesper boat club alum will represent the U.S. in the Heavy Men's 1x. He will be hoping to make an impression on Head Sculling Coach Kris Korzeniowski in an effort to contest a spot on a World Championship Crew later this year.

Go Forth and Fend For Yourself

Where have all the lightweights gone? In a country that hosts one of the healthiest lightweight High school/Collegiate rowing populations in the world, one is forced to ask, where do all the pre-elite athletes train? Why have lightweight rowers in particular had such a difficult time performing well internationally?

Last year Eastern Sprints hosted 5 finals for lightweights totaling 29 boats, or 232 rowers. Cornell, the boat that won this regatta finished in 5:52, just 10 seconds off the U.S. Light Weight 8 Time Standard. In addition, 129 lightweight men participated in the C.R.A.S.H. B indoor event last year, 12 of which finished under 6:30 (only counting collegiate athletes) and 99 women, where 11 rowed 7:38 or less. These totals don’t include the 12 additional L8 and countless L4+ at regattas such as Dad Vails. My point? There is a healthy population of talented lightweight rowers in this country. But where do they go after college?

Last year USRowing sent 8 boats, 27 men’s and women’s athletes to World Championships. In the boats that hosted heats, semis, and finals, 1 made the Grand Final, Lisa Schlenker in the LW1x. She finished 6th, 9 seconds behind the leader. Of those boats that competed in a straight final (6 or less boats in the event), the highest place finish was the LM 8+ finishing 5th, 4 seconds back from the eventual winner.

This is not a recent trend in fact. Since the inclusion of the Men's LM2x to the World Championsip schedule in 1978 there has only been one boat to medal, Steve Peterson/Robert Dreher in 1990. The US has never medaled in this event in the Olympics. Additionally the last time a lightweight men's four has medaled in a World Championships was 1993, and they have not medaled in the Olympics since 1996.

It is not my intention to scoff at the accomplishments of these boats or to suggest that our current national team athletes aren't fitting the bill. In fact I think these athletes are remarkable, because they have had to achieve these goals with little help from anyone. As if winning a World Championship or Olympic medal isn’t hard enough they have achieved in spite of any significant network of post collegiate rowing programs. Even our international “camp” system that supposedly has all of the resources has proven unreliable and inefficient. The simple fact of the matter is that the U.S. rowing community does not or cannot devote significant resources to lightweight rowing, so, post collegiate athletes are virtually doomed to fail before they start. Clubs have been of little help to these athletes either. Only a handful of independent clubs even house post collegiate rowers (light or heavy weight) wishing to train for the next level. Of those clubs even fewer prioritize those programs by donating suitable resources that include proper equipment, paid coaching, and adequate training facilities.

In short, we cannot expect these athletes to consistently succeed if we do not provide them the resources. The responsibility falls on everyone. The clubs in this country must start to prioritize their competitive programs by hiring qualified coaching, and paying them collegiate level salaries. Master’s Rowers must take a more proactive role in the younger generation’s development. They must acknowledge that these rowers are the dreams and inspiration of American rowing and they should be given ample opportunity to achieve. These resources are provided by club members voting to expand training facilities, and increasing club budgets for coaching and traveling expenses. They are also provided by creating a network of “rower friendly” employment opportunities that allow athletes to work 9-5 jobs with suitable pay.

In addition, a proper training environment cannot be created by sponsoring only Olympic boats. Athletes must be given international racing opportunities, and coaches must be given the proper resources to make fast boats. Our most accomplished collegiate programs support as many as 5 Varsity Eights in the hopes of making one successful boat. Why would we suspect our elite program would be different? If USRowing can’t afford to support athletes in Non-Olympic events, they need to allow open trials and invest in our clubs. We cannot partially fund club programs and partially fund our national team program at the same time. We need to come up with innovative ideas on a national level that will help post collegiate athletes subsist while they train. No athlete should have to go without proper health care, and no athlete should be nickel and dimed all the way to the national team.

Greatest Races Week 12

(excuse the Rammstein?)
You won't find too many erg races posted on this blog, but this is one we could not help but share. In the proceeding months after Sir Steven Redgrave's retirement these two Olympic Gold medalists spent no time ruminating over their successes. They trained like men possessed. They were determined to leap from the long shadow cast by the five time Olympic gold medalist and make a name for themselves as the World's premier duo. In 2001 they would do what Redgrave and Pinsent could not, they would win both the straight and coxed pair at World Championships. This performance would give some insight into why they were so successful.