INDIANAPOLIS - USRowing is pleased to announce that Lynn Shannon has been awarded this year's John J. Carlin Award winner and Lee West has been named the Clayton W. Chapman Award recipient.
Shannon and West will be honored along with the Athletes of the Year and the Referee Commission award recipients at the 2003 USRowing Awards Banquet on December 6 in Palm Springs, Calif. The Athletes of the Year and the Referee Commission's award winners will be announced in early November. USRowing would like to congratulate Lynn Shannon and Lee West and thank them for their contributions to the sport.
The John J. Carlin Award is given annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution and outstanding commitments in the sport of rowing. Shannon became involved in the sport when her children began rowing at Oregon Rowing Unlimited. Today, she serves as the administrator for Oregon Rowing Unlimited, regatta director for the Northwest Regional Regattas, and treasurer of the Portland Vancouver Rowing Association. As the chief administrator at ORU, Shannon handles all of ORU's paperwork, travel logistics, regatta registrations, permits, uniforms, paying bills, etc. She also serves as the volunteer coordinator, and as a fundraiser, has raised more than $200,000 for the organization. As Coach Nick Haley puts it, "She basically does everything but the coaching." In addition to her work at ORU, Shannon is the treasurer for PVRA, where she handles all the paperwork, bookkeeping, bill payments, and regatta budgets, as well as serving as the regatta director for the two USRowing Regional Championships.
The Clayton W. Chapman Award is presented annually to an individual who best emulates Mr. Chapman's 30-year stewardship of the Eastern Sprints and IRA Championship regattas and who consistently serves in a behind-the-scenes administrative role that has previously gone unrecognized. West has been an instrumental part of the National Capitol Area Scholastic Rowing Association and currently serves as its treasurer. West began her work with rowing at Garfield High School as a booster and parent of a rower. Since then, she has been a key force in the development of regatta support for more than 45 area high school rowing programs and has established NCASRA as a model rowing association. In addition, she has helped organize several national events in the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. area including the 2002 USRowing Masters National Championships and the 2002 USRowing Annual Convention. She has had a huge impact on thousands of rowers over the course of her involvement in the sport. As Ray Duff wrote in his nomination letter for West, "She is the innovator, instigator, and motivator for over five generations of scholastic rowers and their families."