News

BRUNSWICK, Maine –– As the 2019-2020 school year comes to an end, we at Bowdoin Rowing are reflecting on some of our fondest memories together. While many aspects of this past year were obviously highly unusual, others came as no surprise––success on the water, valued time with one another, and the chance to create a new home for many new members to the Bowdoin Rowing Family.

Fall Highlights

Bowdoin Rowing reached several milestones during the fall 2019 season. Our roster grew to 80 athletes for the first time; a record 30 novices took to the water every afternoon; our endowment broke the $2 million mark; nine Bowdoin boats raced at the Head of the Charles; and the learn-to-rows raced just two weeks into their first season.

There are not many teams at Bowdoin that allow athletes to compete only a few weeks after taking up a sport for the first time. On a beautiful Saturday in September, our entire team––including novices in their third week––launched on the Androscoggin River for the Cow Island Classic. There is no greater joy than welcoming new athletes to the sport and watching them return from the course grinning ear to ear.

At the Head of the Charles in October, the team had a rewarding end to a fun season. The men’s first varsity four finished in 4th place out of 40 in the Collegiate Men’s Four event––the top east coast crew and NESCAC program.

The Bowdoin Rowing Family also made the most of every opportunity together off the water. We enjoyed several outings: sailing with Ry and Tom, apple picking at Rocky Ridge Orchard, bowling at Yankee Lanes, hiking at Mount Megunticook, spontaneous dance parties, movie nights and so much more.

Read the full fall recap here.

Assistant Coach Ry Hills Reflects on an Unusual Spring

Our sense of normalcy was shattered in the wake of the College’s closure during Camp Bob. We were so incredibly lucky to have had that time together. In the weeks since, the team has transitioned to online activities and workouts. Nevertheless, it’s impossible not to reflect on what could have been.

Read the full review of Camp Bob here.

May 9th and 10th, the Dad Vail Regatta would have marked the end of our regular season. Exams are now officially over and we are currently in the middle of Senior Week, or what would have been Senior Week. The quad was supposed to be bustling with graduation set-up and excitement, and two of our men’s boats would have been training for the Henley Royal Regatta.

Perhaps there is no reason to point out all these “non-events,” except to say that in all of our minds, these have all been, and continue to be, big events. This past spring, on Tuesdays, many of us would check the weather for the upcoming race venue. On many mornings at 6:00AM we would consider all the layers we’d be wearing if we were on the water. (It was a very chilly and snowy spring.) On Thursdays we would think about how to rejigger the load of 50+ oars and riggers onto the trailer. On race days we would contemplate the headwind we would have been racing in, and I, for one, could actually conjure up some race-day butterflies. On Dad Vail weekend, Doug and I talked about the race strategy we’d have used for the heats on Friday. We would have told the team to put it all out there, to save nothing for tomorrow, because we knew that Saturday’s wind and weather predictions were atrocious! Who knows if Saturday’s racing would have been cancelled, but our times would have put us in the medals because our crews would have been kick-ass fast!

In the absence of real regattas, so many of our team members held true to their training schedules. Our living rooms, hallways and basements, hiking trails, back yards, garages, and decks were all used for gyms and training venues. We stayed in touch and got to know the Zoom backdrops in each other’s houses. Our “Core O’Clock” workouts every Tuesday and Thursday turned into awesome results for those who attended, coaches included. Our three Zoom cooking events produced yummy and envious results.

On Saturday, May 2nd, the weekend of the New England Rowing Championships, four members of our men’s team took it upon themselves to rearrange the Bowdoin Rowing 2k Leaderboard. In a Zoom-coordinated event, Manlio Calentti, Evan Albers, Cameron Snow, and Walter Gadsby all pulled PR’s, each well below 6:30. Calentti broke the College record for the second time this spring!

On May 17th we held our first––and hopefully last––Zoom banquet. Some of us dressed in our banquet finest, at least from the waist up! We celebrated the team as a whole, as well as a few individuals who earned special and fun awards during this WFH (Workout From Home) spring season. Most importantly, we celebrated our seniors and were captivated by their words of wisdom about their time with Bowdoin Rowing. It was as uplifting as one can imagine, and it goes without saying that we will miss them all. Thank you seniors! We wish you our very best and look forward to a massive Class of 2020 celebration in the spring of 2021.

Bowdoin Rowing Class of 2020 –– Four Years on the Water, Forever on the Team

Itza Bonilla Hernandez
Manlio Calentti
Cole Crawford
Michael Donnelly
Walter Gadsby
Allie Gross
Gianni Jannke
Kenny Lamm
Steven Miyawaki
Faria Nasruddin
Jake Readinger
Julie Scholes
Jack Tarlton

BRUNSWICK, ME –– Julie Scholes ‘20 (Capt.) has received the 2019-2020 Harvey Award for JV & Club Sport Leadership. Scholes is a four-year member of Bowdoin Rowing and the Women’s Captain for the 2019-2020 year. She has won gold medals at the New England Championships and Dad Vail Regatta.

“Julie, on behalf of the coaching staff, the Athletic Department, and the entire rowing team, I’d like to congratulate you,” Head Coach Doug Welling said. “You possess an innate ability to lead, you have always shown care and concern for those around you, you have an incredible competitive drive, and you have always gone about your pursuits with a smile,” he added.

Thank you for four incredible years of leadership, competitive success, and friendship!

The full announcement video is available here.

BRUNSWICK, Maine –– As the College kicks off finals week, Bowdoin Rowing would like to congratulate three of the team’s athletes who received awards for their academic achievement on Honors Day.

Kate Tapscott ’22 received the Sophomore Prize in Hispanic Studies. This prize is awarded each year to the most promising sophomore who has declared a major in Hispanic studies.

Walter Gadsby ’20 received the Anne Bartlett Lewis Memorial Prize in Visual Arts. This prize is given for demonstrated excellence in creative visual arts.

Zoe Wilson ’23 received the Academy of American Poets Collette Inez Poetry Prize. This national prize is awarded by the Academy of American Poets for best poem or groups of poems.

The Bowdoin Rowing community is so proud of Kate, Walter, and Zoe. Congratulations to all!

A full list of 2020 recipients is available here.

Today, May 2, 2020, would normally be one of our favorite days of the spring racing season: the New England Rowing Championships! We’ve compiled some of our favorite memories and medals from the last few years. Bowdoin Rowing has earned 13 medals over the last two years at NERCs, including 8 gold medals.

Today, rowers with ergs completed a virtual 2k challenge on Zoom to mark NERCs. Many rowers earned PR times after weeks of training at home. Great racing to all, and it was awesome to see everyone cheering them on!

SUMMERTON, South Carolina –– Together. Bowdoin Rowing’s spring 2020 season ended early following the College’s announcement that it would close for the remainder of the semester due to COVID-19.

While our season was cut short, Bowdoin Rowing was so incredibly lucky to be able to spend the final moments of the spring season together at Camp Bob. We filled our last few days with lots of joy and, of course, rowing.

Our crews condensed a whole season of racing with plenty of speed into the final days. The annual scrimmage included our fellow campers from Wentworth, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. The Polar Bears were competitive in both the 8s and 4s, and the men’s varsity four set a new course record.

The team also made the most of the time off the water. The last four days included an ice cream social, team talent show, karaoke night, dodgeball tournament, capture the flag, bonfire, and finding the secret to speed going down Camp Bob’s waterslide. The night before Coach Welling and the loaded trailer drove off towards Maine, the coaches put together a wonderful spring banquet on the banks of the Wyboo to celebrate each other and to honor our seniors.

The week in South Carolina was truly a gift. We are so sad that we will not be starting our days on the New Meadows this spring, but we know that this extraordinary and resilient group will continue to adapt, train, take our connections to a “digital level,” and celebrate our incredible seniors over the next two months.

“Being together as a team felt tremendously important, and we feel lucky to have had this one week to row together, laugh together, cry together, and enjoy the camaraderie that defines this program’s motto: have fun and go fast,” Coach Welling said.

“I am so grateful that Bowdoin Rowing was able to have this week together,” Coach Hills added. “I don’t think any other team at Bowdoin, or anywhere else for that matter, was in such a tight-knit and fun environment, all day, every day, for their final week of this season. In the grand scheme of things during this crazy time, that was a gift. We will treasure the memories.”

To everyone in the Bowdoin Rowing family––our teammates, friends, alumni, and supporters––stay safe and healthy. Take care of each other. And until next time: Let’s Go Black!

Find more coverage of our travels on our Instagram @BowdoinRowing.