Martin Crotty has been named Executive Director of the Princeton International Regatta Association (PIRA). Crotty replaces Mark Sniderman, who will be attending Hastings School of Law.
Crotty comes to PIRA after three years as a rowing coach for Loyola Academy Crew in Chicago, IL. In 2002-2003, while serving as Director and Head Coach of Loyola Crew, Crotty helped the Men’s Senior Four win their first ever Scholastic National Championship.
Crotty inherits the controls of an organization with an eye on developing a nationally competitive junior program and the premier rowing facility in the United States. In addition to his duties as a head coach of the Mercer County Junior Rowing Program, he will work with the National Team, Hun, Lawrenceville, and Peddie to organize the efficient use of the Mercer Lake Rowing complex, and he will organize any regattas that PIRA hosts at Mercer Lake.
With the construction of the state-of-the-art Mercer Lake Boathouse coming to an end this September, Crotty hopes to make Mercer Lake a regular stop for scholastic, club, USRowing, and FISA regattas. “I am excited about the opportunity to work for an organization with such a great Board of Directors and such a marquis venue as its headquarters,” Crotty said. “In the last 12 months, PIRA has made improvements to a rowing complex that was already world-class. With a fair course and Mercer Lake’s great water conditions within 250 miles of four major rowing cities, I believe Mercer Lake should be a top candidate for all kinds of regattas: local, regional, national, scholastic, club, international, or Olympic.”
Crotty received a Bachelors of Arts degree in History from Princeton University in 1998 and attended Oxford University (Keble) in 1998-1999. While at Princeton, Crotty was a member of the 1995 IRA Championship Freshman Eight, coached by Mike Teti, and a member of the Princeton Varsity Eight, coached by Curtis Jordan, from 1996-1998. In 1996 and 1998 Princeton were IRA Champs in the Men’s Varsity Eight, and from 1995-1998 won the Rowe Cup Points Trophy at the Eastern Sprints. Crotty remains very active with the Friends of Princeton Rowing and was recently elected President of his Class of 1998.
Crotty was a member of the US Junior and Senior National Teams from 1993-1999. In 1993, he won a bronze medal in the Junior Men’s Eight in Oslo. In 1995, Crotty rowed in the first ever US Nation’s Cup Men’s Eight in Groningen, The Netherlands capturing a bronze medal. In 1997, he won a silver medal as a member of the Nations Cup eight in Milan, Italy before stroking the US Senior Men’s Coxed Four to a fourth place finish in France one month later. In 1998, Crotty rowed in the Men’s Senior Coxed Four in Cologne, Germany finishing fourth, and in 1999, he won a silver medal in the Men’s Straight Four at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
“The success of Princeton University and the US National Team in the late 90s had much to do with pure hard work and commitment to winning,” Crotty explained. “In the last two years especially, PIRA has gone above and beyond to show their commitment to rowers in the US and the world. I have rowed and coached at venues all over the world for 11 years and have yet to see a better facility than Mercer Lake.”