Epic facial hair and some blustery conditions seemed to be the tale of the weekend, as April stayed stubbornly breezy--with more than one team in the Northeast rumored to be doing some snow shoveling to start the week.

Here's our weekly round up of what we spotted out there on the racecourses:

A Coach Who Went the Extra 2k

Sure, dedicated coaches will do "anything" for their teams, but it isn't every week that we spot one hopping into the boat as a super-sub for a full pull:

That's Coach Rick Kelliher filling in with his Lafayette Club Men in Philly; the full sequence starts here, including what looks like a serious blister check.

Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The best--and possibly only--TV show reference we saw on IG this week, but now it's been said, so every other team needs a new line:

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A post shared by Old Dominion Women’s Rowing (@odurowing)

The Eaglet Cometh

row2k's unbroken streak of weekly eagle pics continues, and now we are full-on into capturing the whole Carnegie clan:

Direct quote from the junior photo editor? "Whoa, that's awesome."

Chicanery and Deceit (and, um, what he said)? Yes, Please

That was the race report from just outside Tony and Joe's on Saturday morning:

Running 500s with floating starts, no buoys, and four rival high schools from the same boathouse? Perfidiousness seems required!

Strike That Trophy Pose

Big weekend for posing with the trophy that was in play. We spotted Georgetown Women with the Georges Trophy, Syracuse Men with the Goes, BU Lights with the Beanpot, Colgate's Men with their second big regatta win in as many weeks, and Purdue with the SIRA Points Trophy--but when you are a Dartmouth LWT bringing the Biglin Bowl home for the first time since 2008 (and the fifth time since 1955) after surviving having your program cut just a year or so ago? Then, yeah, it is a big deal:

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A post shared by Dartmouth Lightweight Rowing (@dartmouth_lights)

Best Trophy on the 'Gram This Week

No trophy pose by the winners with this one--the #1 Williams Men for the record--but this 1878 oar blade makes for a pretty historic trophy when Wesleyan, Williams, and Amherst meet up for the Little Three Championship each year:

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A post shared by Williams Men's Crew (@ephheavies)

From Start Platform Acrobatics

Last week, Launch Yoga...this week: headstands on the start dock at SIRAs.

You go, Lane 6.

To Start Platform Speed

Pretty good "almost like you were there" video work from Bruno at Benderson:

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A post shared by Brown Women’s Crew (@brownwrowing)

The IYKYK Bit of the Week

(If, of course, YK)

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A post shared by ??UCSD Women's Rowing?? (@ucsdwrowing)

UVM Does Regatta Coverage Right

All dogs, all the time:

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A post shared by University of Vermont Rowing (@vermontrowing)

Curious Design Choice Trends

The SID design choices for some team's posts are starting to get perhaps too creative:

Is Penn now airborne? Well, might help with that little Schuylkill dredging issue but still . . .

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A post shared by Penn Lightweight Rowing (@penn_lwt_rowing)

And did the Harvard Heavies grab their oars out of the Radcliffe boathouse by accident here?

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A post shared by Harvard University Boat Club (@harvardheavies)

Rumors & Hearsay from the Week That Was

• The Big 10 teams competing in that conference's Invitational in Sarasota wore PRIDE shirts and posted messages opposing Florida's new recent HB-1557 legislation, the "Don't Say Gay" Bill--notably, this is the second year in a row that Big Ten teams made a social justice statement in response to their Invite's venue: in 2021, teams like wore shirts in support of racial justice and unity when the race was held at Harsha Lake in Ohio.
• #1 Yale Heavies 2nd to Drexel at Kerr Cup? Not quite: the Yale crew which Drexel's 1V sprinted through to win was Yale's 4th Varsity--watch drone footage of the heater of a final here. The Yale 4V was in town to race the Kerr Cup whilst the 1V-3V Yalies raced Penn & Columbia's three eights for the Blackwell Cup. Yale's 5V won the Kerr Cup's 2nd Varsity final.
• The UVA Women also put their depth on display via some "split squad" racing this weekend: the Cavaliers who did not make the trip to Florida collected a bronze in the Women's Varsity 8 Final at SIRAs, behind Kansas State and the Wisconsin Lightweights.
• Also at SIRAs, we can report that the "squirrel guy" is alive and well . . . and the squirrel is, graduating?

  The row2k Top Results of the Week

  • Stanford's 1V and 2V went unbeaten in Sarasota, and the Cardinal's only NCAA squad loss was to the Michigan V4 who was also perfect on weekend at the B1G Invite on Saturday
  • Princeton Light Women won the battle of top ranked LW crews at Stanford
  • The mid-season ACRA battle at SIRAs saw Notre Dame finish ahead of Virginia and Vanderbilt in Men's 8 in Oak Ridge

  Check out these items you may have missed this past week:

  • The cMax Poll is back!
  • the 4/16 edition of row2k’s Best of Instagram: Goose invasions, dance offs, perfect water, and more..
  • and the most read news link this past week? The article on AUS Olympian Sam Mackenzie's Memorial Service in the Henley Standard: Six-times Diamond Sculls winner remembered at memorial service