Bowdoin Rowing

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Season Opener – Clark Invitational Regatta

Bowdoin Rowing kicked off the Spring 2017 season on Sunday with racing in Worcester, MA. This was the squad’s first return to water since traveling north from spring training.

The Varsity women made a very successful debut in the 8+, finishing the 2000 m course in first place, 11.3 seconds ahead of second place Connecticut College. Assumption College, Clark University and Johnson and Wales University rounded out the rest of the field. The women carried a similar margin of victory into the Varsity 4+ event, stopping the clock in 7:45, followed by Connecticut and Clark. The Novice women also showed great signs of early season speed with first and third finishes in the novice women’s 4+ event. The second varsity women finished in third, just behind Clark and Connecticut.

On the men’s side, the Varsity 4+ kicked off the day with a 16 second win over Wentworth, Clark and Connecticut College. The men’s second varsity followed suit with Bowdoin 4’s finishing in first and second ahead of Connecticut and Wentworth. In the closest finish of the day, Bowdoin’s novice men fought hard to finish three seconds ahead of Wentworth. Detailed results can be found on row2k.com.

Many thanks to Clark University for hosting! Next weekend the full Bowdoin Navy fleet is off to Mercer Lake in New Jersey for the Knecht Cup.

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Head of the Charles 2016

The 52nd Head of the Charles brought drenching rains on Saturday and howling head winds on Sunday and three crews each day from the Bowdoin Navy. Over 10,000 athletes from around the world gathered in Boston for the annual fall celebration of rowing.

On Saturday, Bowdoin raced in the Men’s Club Fours where our B boat finished 25th, and our alumni took 34th out of 48 entries.  Dartmouth, Harvard, and Boston University took the top three finishes.  Our alumni women raced in the Women’s Club Fours and finished 30th out of 59; Penn, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame took the top three in that event. Both the B boat and the women just missed getting the guarantee for next year by 1 spot!

In Sunday’s headwind, Bowdoin raced in the Collegiate Fours with our Women’s A and B boats and the Men’s A boat. In spite of three significant boat stopping incidents, the men took 14th in the 43 boat field, and earned a guaranteed entry in next year’s regatta.  FIT, Middlebury, and San Diego took top honors. The women finished 14th and 21st in a 35 boat race, and the A boat guaranteed a spot for next year. Barry University won it, with Carleton and UNH in second and third.

The gathering at the Asgard on Saturday evening was just a joy.  It was wonderful for our current team and families to connect with such a great crowd of alums.  What a bunch of characters! Thanks to Maddy Livingston ‘16 for pulling it together, and to all of you who joined us there and at the river.

Complete results, photos, and articles may be found at row2k.com and hocr.org.

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Textile River Regatta 2016

As fall begins to set in up here in Maine, the Bowdoin Navy completed its first race of the year! The team traveled down to Lowell, MA to race with over 70 other colleges, high schools and clubs at the Textile Rive Regatta. Even through cloudy and overcast skies, the team shone and brought back plenty of hardware. Safe to say it was a promising start to the season!

The Navy entered 13 boats in 8 entries, earning 9 medals: 2 gold, 2 silver, and 5 bronze. Our team showed terrific depth as the Novice Women’s four took first and third, the Novice Men’s Eight took third, and the Lightweight Men’s Four took the gold. The team continued their success streaks into the afternoon with the Varsity Men’s Four taking second and fourth, and the Varsity Women’s Fours taking third, fourth and fifth. In the small boats, our singles took third and sixth, and the pair got third.

As always, we loved seeing our parents and alumni! Thank you to all who brought food and cheered from the sidelines. Thank you also to our wonderful alumni who came to support and race as well. We had alumni racing in the Club Singles and for Riverside Boat Club, as well as refereeing for US Rowing

Here’s to a fast season ahead! Look for us next in Worcester, MA racing at the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta on October 15.

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New England Championships 2016

Two spectacular weekends in a row!

Six Bowdoin crews traveled down to Massachusetts for the New England Championships, six Bowdoin crews advanced from their heats to the Grand Finals, and six Bowdoin crews came home with medals! It was a day of racing we will all remember for a long time to come.

Three golds: Men’s First Novice Four, Women’s First Novice Four, and Women’s Second Varsity Four

Two silvers: Men’s First Varsity Four and Women’s First Varsity Four

One bronze: Men’s Second Varsity Four

We were also able to honor our coach Gil Birney’s 20th year of coaching. The captains presented Coachie with a book of memories and shared stories with all the current Bowdoin rowers and coxswains, alumni, friends, and families of the team. Once more, Coachie, thanks for everything you do. You can’t imagine how much you and this team mean to all of us.
NERC 2016

And, of course, a big thanks to everyone else we saw at the race course! Your continuous and unconditional support inspire us at every race. We were pulling for you.

For some boats, this weekend marked the end of the spring season. Others have their toughest races ahead of them. In less than two weeks, the men’s and women’s first varsity fours and first novice fours will compete at Dad Vail in Philadelphia, PA. Should be fun.

Until then, please enjoy this compilation of our fearless coxswains.

NERC coxswains 2016

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Clark Invitational 2016, round two

The second round of the Clark Invitational was last weekend, and here’s what happened!

On the men’s side, the first and second varsity fours came in first their events, and the first and second novice fours came in second and fourth, respectively, in their event.

On the women’s side, we placed fifth in the varsity eights event, third in the novice eights event, second in the varsity fours event, first in the second varsity fours event, and first in the novice fours event.

This upcoming weekend is one of the biggest of the year – the New England Championships! Tomorrow will be a long and race-filled day. It’s what we’ve been training for all season and we’re pretty excited. To those of you coming out, see you there!