What makes rowing such a compelling sport is its versatility. It accepts everyone.
Often it's the high school cross country runners, track athletes, swimmers, or wrestlers that show interest in learning a new competitive sport. Of course, great athletes will emerge from all sorts of competitive backgrounds. No two athletes take the same path.
For U.S. rowing senior team member Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.) who is racing in the women's lightweight quad at the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the interest in crew only came after years of orienteering.
Merriam-Webster defines orienteering as a cross-country race in which participants use a map and compass to navigate between checkpoints along an unfamiliar course. More simply, it is the competitive sport of navigation, or, as Saeger frankly puts it, "Running as hard as you can without getting lost."
"Essentially what you have is a map and a compass," Saeger said. "You have a starting point on the map, and on the map are different points in order. You have to get to each point in order as fast as you can, using the map and compass."
Saeger, who began her rowing career at Marist College in 2003 and now rows out of Riverside Boat Club, was introduced to orienteering at a young age by her parents, who would take her to local events.
Similar to rowing, orienteering events feature mostly individual competitions. Unlike rowing, however, which might allow you the opportunity to "switch off your brain" during a race, the navigational sport demands both physical ability and mental fortitude throughout the duration.
"Usually the hardest part is to navigate and run as hard as you can without exhausting either one," Saeger said. "As soon as you start getting tired, your mental state starts going and it's a constant battle of oxygen deprivation and navigating the course as fast as you can."
There are all kinds of race categories based on variables like terrain, distance, elevation, and navigational precision. There are even races that start only when it's dark out.
For Saeger, who uses her cross-country running background to her advantage, the preference is the shorter, flatter races.
"I really like the sprint races. Usually they're in a park and it's really fast running and really fast navigating and you just go as hard as you can. Everything goes by so quickly, there's no wandering of the brain, and you have to be on top of everything all the time."
She's seen quite a bit of success during her prime, which allowed her to see many parts of the world for competitions, including several World and Junior World Championships in Europe.
The emergence of Saeger's rowing career has caused her to put orienteering on hold for the time being, and the results have proven to be worth it.
At Olympic trials in April, Saeger took second in the lightweight double, just missing a trip to London. She's now looking to improve on the bronze medals she collected at the World Rowing Senior Championships in both 2009 and 2011.
It won't be easy, but at least it doesn't require a compass.