With a quartering headwind and slightly cooler temperatures, Sunday at the Head of the Schuylkill was not quite as ideal as Saturday, but it was close enough to keep the new group of athletes and supporters happy and moving safely and swiftly down the river with no major delays. Well, 50 novice high school eights at the start slow things down a bit, but that is the joy and challenge of fall high school racing.
The day is sprawling, with categories to give every rower an opportunity to participate. The spirit of participation was so strong that every finisher in the Jim Barker Varsity singles events in the morning was given a participation medal for their efforts from Sir Steven Redgrave. Great to acknowledge the dedication it takes to row a single as a high school athlete, but the winner of those events may feel a little less special with the hardware distributed in a manner that suggests it’s "all about the effort."
Frosh/Novice Racing Does Not Disappoint
Michael Fairley, who stroked both an eight and a quad for Saratoga (his quad won despite a collision), noted that "the part that we were most worried about was that our eight was at 10:30 and our quad was at 11:30 and we basically got on land, had a drink and left again."
In general, hot seating was difficult when eights were filling real estate on the recovery dock, and with Masters Doubles coming in the same time as some of the eights, it was comical to see them purloin precious dock space with the confidence of years of rowing wisdom behind them.
International Flavor Still in Play
"We decided to elongate our Head of the Charles trip with a training spell in Princeton, and then cap it off with racing here," said Seb Benzecry, bow of the winning St. Paul’s Varsity Four. "We are all looking at American uni’s."
"Six of the same guys rowed the Henley Eight that won the PE (Prince Elizabeth Challenge Cup), but we have only been practicing this crew for a few weeks," said two-seat Bertie Woodward-Fisher.
Of the circuitous rivers that allow coxswains an opportunity to really test their steering mettle, coxswain Vlad Saigau said "My favorite course is the Head of the Charles, but this course is actually quite fun also."
"The Schuylkill is pretty epic with the big bridges," added Benzecry.
"There is so much energy around rowing in America—the Charles and the Schuylkill are bigger than any of our events apart from the Henley," added Woodward-Fisher. The St. Paul’s crew won the Varsity Four event, and then admitted, they were ready to head home after their "holiday" of non-stop rowing in the US.
The Locals Like Sculling
There are a few programs local to Philadelphia (and in the larger Scholastic/Youth rowing world) that focus on sculling only. In the area, Conestoga (coached by Paul Coombs) and Malvern Prep (coach Craig Hoffman) stick with two oars in hand; in the larger east coast and national picture, New Canaan High School has been a constant presence on the podium. Additionally, Yan Vengerovskiy and his wife Olga have been at the helm of Maritime Rowing Club in Norwalk, CT (the host boat house for New Caanan High School) for almost 20 years, and have produced some of the best collegiate rowing athletes in the states. A notable student of Yan is Andrew Campbell, whose rowing technique has allowed a lightweight rower to dominate heavyweights in the sport into his Junior, U23, and now National Team years.
On Sunday at the Schuylkill, there were five entries in the Varsity Quad from New Canaan, and in a 50-boat race, New Canaan quads earned first, second, 12th, 13th, and 24th, all in the top half of the results board. The winning crew looked like they could face international competition, winning by 30 seconds. Although the program races eights, most of their athletes earn their rowing chops in quads and doubles.
"There is no secret, it is daily training, it is raising them from middle school to be athletes… we concentrate on athletes," said Vengerovskiy. "We don’t force into sweep rowing; it will happen later on. We want strong mental performance, strong athletic performance. It will give them more positive results in the long term."
Local Color
During the regatta several local coaches and master’s rowers were on the microphone announcing the races, noting as otherwise anonymous rowers with solid past results raced past. For instance, the stroke of the Vesper Eight that won the Champ Race on Saturday (over the combined crew of the eight Gold Cup athletes) was Joe Spencer, who has rowed for clubs on Boat House Row (Penn AC and Vesper) and was in the winning Pan American Eight in 2011.
Another announcer provided a long stream of rowers associated with "The Prep" that prompted an investigation by this reporter. Aha, it was Bill Lamb on the mic, the former longtime coach of St. Joe’s Prep who now coaches at University Barge Club. It was also nice to hear the announcers mention the two oldest rowers on the course, rowing athlete and coach legend Ted A. Nash, 83, and Vesper Boat Club’s Karin Tetlow, 79, fresh from medal-winning efforts in Masters World Championships.
They went from high school rowers to legends in a breath or two; seems like a fitting perspective on one of the largest rowing parties Philadelphia has ever seen.
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10/28/2015 5:00:46 PM