To the surprise of all 105 competitors, the North American Open Water Championship, scheduled to be run as part of the Jamestown Counter Revolution on 15 miles in lower Narragansett Bay, RI, turned into a triple long flat water drag race on the Providence River. With the threat of Tropical Storm Danny making a bee line for Rhode Island and a Coast Guard request for cancellation looming, a desperate race committee (led by Dan Gorriaran.) negotiated a change in venue and salvaged the race by moving the entire operation 30 miles north to a 10.4 mile course starting at the Narragansett Boat Club.

As many a flat water rower can attest, the Providence River is notorious for "mixed" conditions so the potential was there for a challenging, yet safe, course in Providence. Again to the surprise of the competitors, the river was dead calm on race day. Danny dissipated over night and the only thing competitors faced was a lot of rain, flat conditions and the prospect of a quick race.

Since it was impossible to do the scheduled 95 boat shotgun start on the river, race organizers quickly broke down the field by class. The starts ran flawlessly with classes starting 3 minutes apart sending a steady stream of competitors down the course.

The Men's championship single had the deepest field ever assembled in the U.S. for an open water race with 24 entrants - at least six of whom were capable of winning the race outright. In spite of that, Russ Cone and Robert Meenk quickly made it a two boat race with 4 boats in a tight group behind. After a 5 mile trip out to the "Snow Cone" (a giant navigation buoy on the upper bay) the fleet turned 180 degrees for the sprint back to the dock at the Narragansett Boat Club. And a sprint it was. By the last bridge, Robert Meenk passed Russ and won by 15 seconds. Robert finished in a time of 1:08:11 - which means keeping a pace of 2:02 per 500 meters for over 10 miles. This was Robert's third consecutive Men's Championship rowing his carbon Maas 24.

On the Women's side, there were 11 entrants in total. In the end, it was Diane Davis winning her third consecutive championship rowing her carbon Maas Flyweight. Diane was chased by Rachel Perry, Bryna McConarty and Antje Siems down to the cone. But on the return trip, Diane really put on a charge and won the race by an amazing 1:30 over Rachel with Bryna and Antje close behind. Diane finished in a time of 1:16:35 for an average of 2:17 per 500 meters.

The post race party featured great Dominican food, drink, massage, camaraderie and many a tall tale for an exuberant group of hearty competitors. In spite of the weather and the last-minute change of venue, the event delivered great competition and good fun. The event was spectacularly well organized and the Narragansett Boat Club was generous and wonderful host. See more photos of the event at http://mattwilkinson.zenfolio.com/p393185879.

Meanwhile, the original Jamestown Counter Revolution course still stands to be conquered in a future race...