The Ron Burgundy countdown ended a day earlier than it might as the Crew Classic started on Friday night this year, and by Sunday afternoon it was all over with a heap of great racing, good conditions, and over 3000 row2k photos.
If you missed watching the two main collegiate events, check them out here:
Womens Collegiate Varsity Jessop-Whittier Cup Invitational Final, with Texas winning after Stanford leads for some time and game efforts all across the lanes:
Mens Collegiate Varsity Copley Cup Invitational, with Cal winning with Oxford Brookes in hot pursuit:
Hometown Hardware for UCSD and USD
The UC San Diego men and University of San Diego women won the hardware on their home waters in the Cal Cups; the UCSD men took gold in an eight boat race that had them about a length ahead of Gonzaga in second, UCLA in third, and hometown rival U. of San Diego in fourth.
"More than anything this weekend was a win for the whole UCSD rowing community," said Thomas Wilson, stroke of the V8 and the program's sole senior. "Bringing home the Cal Cup in front of a beach full of friends, family and alumni felt like nothing I've ever been a part of, and doing it in a boat dedicated to Colonel Dave Barry with his family there was an honor far beyond any trophy I could ever receive.
"It was a reminder that we're never just rowing for ourselves, that we're blessed to represent the legacy of this team and all those who've worked to build it."
"We were pleased with the performance of our entire squad this weekend," men's coach Jeff Collett said. "We were coming off of spring break training and had put in a considerable amount of meters in the last seven days. We are happy that we were able to train through this event and still perform well. "Our team's composition is predominantly young, consisting mainly of freshmen and sophomores, accompanied by a solitary senior senior in the 1V and another in the 2V, a pair of junior rowers and senior coxswain in the 2V, and no upperclassmen in the 3V.
"It is always fun to win at the Crew Classic but we have a lot of season left and will look to make many improvements over the next 2 months."
Meanwhile fellow locals the University of San Diego women won the women's Cal Cup by combining an underdog mentality with a home course approach.
"Our crew went into this weekend with high expectations for ourselves, yet also holding onto an underdog mentality that fueled our fight through both days of racing," USD stroke Caitlin Burns said. "With some close racing that has not always gone our way over the last few years, we were determined to make a big showing this weekend, especially in front of a huge crowd of supporters at home."
"I am so proud of the calm confidence that we all maintained in the final, coming off the line at the back of the pack but not letting that put a ding in our stride through the middle of the race. The excitement flowing through the boat was unparalleled coming into the last 500m, a really gutsy sprint from the whole boat."
Marin Wins Eight Medals, Including Six Gold
Marin won four women's and four men's medals in the youth events, including three golds each; impressive day.
Redwood Scullers Win the Concept2 Concept2 Oar Award
The victor in the Womens Concept2 Youth 4x event wins an oar trophy custom made by C2; here is Peter Dreissigacker in a suitably SoCal C2 logo shortsleeve to present to winner Redwood Scullers. We know oars are getting shorter but this one is probably best left as a trophy.
Maritime Goes West for Gold
The Maritime Rowing Club from Norwalk CT made their cross-country trip worth it by taking home two wins on the weekend in the Men's Youth 4x and Men's U16 4x.
"We always have a great time coming out to race at the crew classic," Maritime coach Sharon Kriz said from the trailer on the way home. "It's a long way to travel but the opportunity to see the early speed of both our crews and many of the west coast crews is an invaluable experience to our young athletes. We're proud of how well our crews raced this weekend and we're definitely looking forward to the rest of this spring season!"
The more senior of the two quads crossed the line not without a little bit of strut, showing some maritime skills with a gunwale pause going over the line, then squared the blades (you can sort of see it on the vid here).
Have a safe trip home!
SDCC In The News
row2k's In The News stack is stuffed with Crew Classic news with quotes from coaches and athletes; we imagine there will be some more tomorrow as well.
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