Bowdoin Rowing

Remigio Delectate et Remigate Velociter

Coach Gil Birney

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Textile Medal Haul

Steady rain throughout the day could not dampen the spirits or speed of the Bowdoin Navy at the 34th Textile River Regatta in Lowell, MA on Sunday. With 10 boats in 6 events, we pulled in 3 gold, 2 silver, and a bronze for a great day of time trial racing.

In the Novice Men’s Four Bowdoin opened the haul with 2nd and 3rd behind UMASS Lowell. The Novice Women’s Four followed with a gold in spite of a jumped slide in the last 1000 meters. The Men’s Lightweight Four rushed to a :44 margin over rival Wentworth to claim another gold. In a very competitive field the Novice Women’s Eight took 4th.

We had three entries in the Men’s Open Four. A strong Riverside Boat Club from Boston won the event, but our First Boat was close behind in second, ahead of WIT, Tufts, and Wesleyan among the field. Our Second Boat dueled the last 1500 meters with our Third Boat, a group of Bowdoin alums; the alums took 6th and the Second Boat 10th in the most entertaining finish of the day.

The Women’s Open Four is always a loaded event at this regatta but our first boat met the challenge and won the event to repeat last year’s victory. Radcliffe was second and WPI took the bronze. Our Second boat came 15th.

Next Sat. the Navy travels to Worcester for the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta, the last tune up for the Head of The Charles on Oct. 19-20.

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Opening Days 2013

Our Opening Days bring some 27 new rowers and coxswains to the Navy for our 2 week “try it out” session. With several of our juniors abroad this term, we’re thrilled with the turnout! Jumpy the seal, the big bald eagle and a great picnic at Popham Beach have been pretty enticing for the new group.

The upper boats have been hard at work preparing for racing in Oct. Both our men and women earned guaranteed entries in the college fours at the Charles, the men with a repeat medal performance at 5th place and the women by winning the gold! Those two boats will be joined by men’s and women’s alumni boats in the Club Four.  We are also racing at the Textile and Snake regattas ahead of the Charles.

Inquiries from prospective students have been dramatically up this year and we encourage any of you who may be considering Bowdoin for study and rowing to contact Coach Birney.

Watch for updates here as the fall progresses.

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“Oh, somewhere in this favored land…”

“There is no joy in Mudville-Mighty Casey has struck out.”

After a terrific week of training we entered the Opening Round of Prince Albert Cup with high hopes for a deep run into the regatta. But it was not to be. The men rowed level with Edinburgh for the first half of the race but couldn’t match the Scots’ higher rate over the end. Mighty Casey has struck out.

Other crews with high expectations went out on day one as well: American crews from Virginia and Grand Valley both were knocked out and Newcastle was beaten by the Dutch. So it goes with racing and especially racing at Henley. While we were all disappointed, the progress we made in preparation was significant and will have an impact on how we race in seasons to come. And we have some terrific racing to watch over the course of the rest of the regatta. Time will ease the loss as will observing and learning from the great racing here. But for a bit yet, on this Fourth of July in Henley,

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville-mighty Casey has struck out.

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Bowdoin at Henley

The men’s coxed four arrived in Henley-on-Thames on June 21 to prepare its campaign in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup in The Henley Royal Regatta. We were waived through The Qualifier, and at The Draw on June 29 we were honored to be chosen as one of the six Select Crews in the field of sixteen. Isis Boat Club (Oxford) and University of Durham were the top two seeds while Bowdoin, Cambridge, Imperial, and the University of Virginia rounded out the six.

Coxswain Jen Helble ’14, stroke Cal Brooks ’15, Tucker Colvin ’13, Mark Endrizzi ’15, and Chris Breen ’15 are backed up by reserve Trevor McDonald ’15. The crew faces the University of Edinburgh on Wednesday, July 3 at 10:20 Henley Time in the opening round.

Follow the team at www.bowdoinhenley.blogspot.com.

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Women Win Dad Vail!

At the 75th Anniversary of the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia  on May 10-11, four Bowdoin crews advanced to the semi finals and from there the women advanced to win the Varsity Four DII-III!  It was the 5th consecutive year of medals for the women and the first gold since they won the inaugural event for DII-III in 2009.  Bonnie Cao ‘13 coxed for stroke Mary Bryan Barksdale ‘15, Catherine Yochum ‘15, Courtney Payne ‘15, and Samantha Burns ‘13.

The crew won the New England Championships on May 4th and were  keen to test themselves at the national level.  The Dad Vail is the largest collegiate regatta in the country, with competitors from CA  to FLA and everywhere in between.

Cao, Barksdale, Yochum and Burns were together in the crew that won the College Four at Boston’s Head of The Charles Regatta in October, so the victory in Philadelphia ices the cake on an amazing season.

Bowdoin’s other 3 entries raced in the Varsity Men’s Four, the Varsity Men’s Lightweight Four, and the Novice Women’s Four.  All three crews distinguished themselves by advancing to the semi finals on Saturday morning to place them in the top third of all competitors at the regatta.

Complete results at dadvail.org or row2k.com