San Diego Rowing Club's President Janet Fagan and team captain Jane Pederson were beyond ecstatic that the Masters National's Overall Points Trophy had a beautiful woman perched upon the top of their Zurich Scudder Investments Trophy.
For the first time in the club's history, the pair broke the mold as the first women who have held the top positions in San Diego's history at the same time. San Diego was able to claim even more accolades as the most represented club in USRowing's largest event ever, bringing 93 entries to the event which saw over 2,000 competitors.
"When it is close like that it is way more exciting," said Fagan. "To all be huddled at our tent surrounded by our technology trying to figure out the standings…It makes it so much more thrilling than any one team being out in front the whole time. It is kind of like being in the World Series game and it is two to one in the sixth game or something."
It came down to the last three races as the overall points leader bounced between Chinook Performance Racing, Capital Rowing Club and San Diego as the spread was as close as 11 points between first and third at one point in time.
"We had a little bit of an older team and the fact that our older members came out and performed like they did is just outstanding," said Pederson. "These people are at our boathouse at 5 a.m. working out with the rest of us and that is unbelievable."
With trailers packed, boats derigged and old friends on their way to the airport, the largest USRowing event ever came to a close on Sunday night on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.
For Potomac Boat Club's Dr. Gregory Peter Le Sage and Col. Greg Gillinger, winning the Men's Overall Point Trophy was not the only impressive thing they were able to accomplish this weekend.
The pair, both higher ups on the D.C. scene, was able to pull off a grand slam going home with six gold medals apiece and up to 10 races down the Cooper in total for each of them.
"We just tried to do our best every time," said Le Sage. "Every race is a challenge."
"We set our expectations high," said Gillinger. "We want to win everything but you get excited about those wins that you manage by 0.1 seconds. We had our share of comfortable victories but we also had some close calls."
For Chinook, their goal to create a club of like minded men and women who share a desire to train hard and row fast paid off as the club made a strong attempt at the overall points trophy but was more than happy to take home the Women's Overall Point Trophy.
"We had a great regatta," said board member Lesleh Wright. "We had a lot of fast races and we were really happy with the competition and the crews that were just lightening fast down the course. I also think the spirit of camaraderie was so like being at FISA, which was something I have not experienced at Masters Nationals in many years. People were nice and pleasant to one another and it was a fun competitive experience."
Overall, San Diego took the overall points race with 626 points. Chinook took the women's race with 531 while Potomac totaled 448 points for the men's race. With 117 points, six gold medals Dallas Rowing Club took home the Efficiency Trophy with only seven competitors.
With the close of racing on the Cooper River, USRowing can now announce that the 2016 USRowing Masters National Championships will be held on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.