Bowdoin Rowing

Remigio Delectate et Remigate Velociter

Dad Vail Regatta

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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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Women Win Dad Vail Again!

Bowdoin’s First Women’s Four completed an undefeated season with a gold medal row in the Open Heavyweight Four at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta on May 10.  And they won the gold in a squall of biblical proportion,  which only added to the epic character of their season.

The Bowdoin Navy entered six crews and advanced five to the semis and four then on to the finals.  The Lightweight Men went out in Friday’s qualifiers in a very tough heat, but with a very sturdy row.  Our Novice Men advanced to the semis, where they rowed their hearts out, but just missed advancing to the finals.

The Novice Women’s Four capped a tremendous season with a fourth place finish in a national field.  The Second Women’s Four rowed its final in building slop and chop to a sixth place finish.  It was bad enough that coaches expected the next race, the Women’s Open Four to be delayed, but the race went off in spite of the wind driven waves. The weather was in fact bad enough that it delayed the Open Men’s Four by roughly three hours; when the men finally took the course the air had settled, and they rowed to a terrific fourth place finish with the best in the country. It had been eleven years since the men had raced in the finals, and they raced it with class and determination.

But it was the Women’s Open Four that captured the amazement and hearts of the regatta.  Bowdoin led at the bridge in spite of the horrendous conditions, and then the heavens opened and blew down the challenge of the age!  By 1000 meters the rain was blasting the boats, driven by winds gusting over 35 knots.  The crews could not be seen from the bike path, let alone from the stands, until they suddenly emerged out of a wall of rain with 250 meters to go.  The crowd erupted just to see all six crews on the water!  Plowing through the troughs of water, Bowdoin finished seven seconds ahead of U Mass and Nova, to claim its second gold in two years in Philadelphia.

Bowdoin had an epic showing at Dad Vail this year: five crews to the semis, four to the finals, and a gold for the women for 6 consecutive years of medals on the Schuylkill.

Both the First and Second Women’s Fours will compete at Henley Women’s Regatta on 20-22 June. After great success on the national scene, it is time to row abroad!

 

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Really Grand Finals at NE’s!

Bowdoin placed all six of its entries into the Grand Finals at the New England Rowing Championships on May 3, and came away with a gold, two silvers, a bronze, and two 4th place finishes!

The Varsity Women’s Four took the gold with an open water thirteen second win over Amherst and Conn in third. The win capped an undefeated regular season and inspired the crew to enter the Open Heavyweight Four at the upcoming Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia May 9-10. After five consecutive years of medals, 2 of them gold, in the D2-3 event, entering the Open signals the ambition and determination of these women to compete with the best in the country.

The Varsity Men’s Four won a hard fought silver against rival Wentworth Institute of Technology. With a stunning closing move, the Bears gained a boat length of water but came just short of WIT by a second. It was another in a long series of close races with the Wentworth crew and fans the rivalry for the upcoming Dad Vail.

The Novice Women took a silver behind Bates in very tight finish
and the M2V dashed to the bronze in another close race.

The Novice Men and W2V were both 4th by seconds in races that came down to the wire as well.

The Bowdoin Navy came away from NE’s with four medals in six events, and showed once again it is a powerhouse in regional fours competition. Next weekend the team travels to Philadelphia for the storied Dad Vail Regatta, the largest intercollgiate regatta in the country, with entries in six events.

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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

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Dad Vail Icing on The Cake

After sweeping the varsity fours events at New Englands the Bowdoin Navy headed to Philadelphia for the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta and iced the season’s  cake with  with three crews advancing to the semis,  a silver medal for the women in the D-2/3 Varsity Four, and lessons learned in Lane 0.

Coxswain Bonnie Cao ’13 drove her crew of stroke Caroline Ciocca ’12, Heather Kinnear ’12, Courtney Payne ’15, and Katie Ross ’14 to a photo finish with Philadelphia University while a strong Nova SE crew won by 4 seconds.  This Bowdoin crew demonstrated the heart  of the whole team with a determined and powerful sprint that just never backed down from the challenge.  This silver extends Bowdoin’s medal winning streak in this event to 4 years, including the gold in 2009, silver in 2010, and bronze in 2011.  Ciocca and Kinnear have been in the medal crews  for the last 3 years!

Both the Novice Men and Varsity Men advanced to the semis showing the depth of the team in national level competition.  Coxswain Bridgett McCoy ’15 had the reins for stroke Jack Wostrel ’15, Brock Cassidy ’15, Nathan Post ’15 and Bryce Ervin ’15.  This crew surprised the field, but not themselves, with its second place finish in the qualifier; they raced with the same confidence and determination that characterizes each of our top boats, and carried those qualities to the semi as well, even though they did not advance.

The Varsity Men get the prize for the highest drama of all our entries. As the saying goes,  “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.” After winning the gold at New Englands, coxswain Christine Buckland ’12, Dan Polasky ’12, Tucker Colvin ’13, Cal Brooks ’15 and Mark Endrizzi ’15 came to Philadelphia with high hopes for  contesting a medal.  But in the Friday qualifier, they hit a submerged log at 500 meters which sheared off the skeg and rudder, and forced them out of the race.  Fortunately, Cal’s mother, Beth Goodman, is also a lawyer, and her maternal and legal drive quickly called up the USRA Rules of Rowing where she found grounds to appeal the result.  The appeal was succesful and the crew was placed in a semi for Sat. out in Lane 0 next to the wall. Thanks to our friends at Amherst and Gerry Quinlan at St. Joe’s we got the parts needed for John Tytus of Pocock to repair the skeg and rudder.   In the semi the crew staged an all out assault, but from that outside lane couldn’t quite catch the leaders to advance to the finals.

The Head Referee complimented these men by saying that in his years on the river he had never seen such a good result from that lane.  And Anne-Marie Barron, Christine’s mom, wrote the crew a note worthy of gold in itself. A bit of it reads,

“…if the playing field had been level…you would have had incredible results at Dad Vail- your entire season is evidence of that.  Yet in spite of profound disappointment…your grace, dignity, integrity, and courage stand as indicators of the champions you truly are…”

The Novice Women tasted some disappointment as well.  Coxie Alex Lynds ’15, stroke Anna Westervelet ’14, Catherine Yochum ’15, Emily Weinberger ’15, and Mary Bryan Barksdale ’15 were racing as a new line up and rowed their hearts out, but were just not quite fast enough to advance.  Their intensity and desire bode well for seasons to come.

And finally, kudos to our two scullers in the exhibition singles.  Neither Elliott Munn ’12 nor Samantha Burns ’13 advanced from the qualifiers, but both finished with big grins after racing hard on the Schuylkill.  These two embodied what it means to be a part of Bowdoin Navy, and as we close the books on the 25th Anniversary of The Restoration of Rowing at Bowdoin, their effort is captured by another part of Anne-Marie’s note:

“…commitment to one another and common values and shared goals, taking the work seriously but not the self too seriously, always being ready to offer and receive support and compassion during times of challenge, and laughing often- are among the secrets of true success.”

The Dad Vail this year was truly icing on the cake of a great season, full of great results and lessons learned.