Bowdoin Rowing

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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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New England Championships

At the New England Rowing Championships on May 4th at historic Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA, the Bowdoin Navy dominated the six events for four oared crews by winning four of the events and finishing third and fourth in the other two races. The team finished 7th out of 32 schools in total points without competing in any of the events for eights.

In the Varsity Women’s Four, coxswain Bonnie Cao ‘13
brought her boat across the line 15 seconds ahead of 2nd place Connecticut College for the biggest win of the day. Mary Bryan Barksdale ‘15 stroked the crew of Catherine Yochum ‘15, Courtney Payne ‘15 and Samantha Burns ‘13.

The Men’s Varsity Four was the closest race of the regatta, with Bowdoin’s crew edging out a hard driving boat from Wentworth Institute of Technology by .079! Coxswain Jen Helble ‘14 drove stroke Cal Brooks ‘15, Tucker Colvin ‘13, Mark Endrizzi ‘15, and Chris Breen ‘15 to a length’s lead at 1500 meters and hung on just enough as the WIT boat surged in the last 150 meters to close the gap.

The W2V staged a similar assault on Connecticut College who looked uncatchable at 1500 m. But coxswain Sophie Berube ‘16 and stroke Nora Hefner ‘16 lit a fire under Amy Spens ‘15, Amanda Maisel ‘15, and Emily Weinberger ‘15 for a dramatic come back to beat Conn by .79.

Head Coxswain Julia MacDonald ‘13 pushed her crew of Nathan Post ‘15, Ben Geyman ‘16, Jack Wostrel ‘15 and Brock Cassidy ‘15 as hard as she could to claim 4th in the M2V in a close finish that saw 2nd, 3rd and 4th within 3 seconds of one another.

The Novice Women snuck past a very sturdy Amherst crew to take the gold in the last 500 meters. Coxswain Claire Velez ‘16 drove for stroke Mary Frances Harris ‘16, Bailey Moritz ‘16, Erica Hummel ‘16, and Lila Wright ‘16.

The Novice Men gave one of the most dramatic performances of the day. Coxswain Claire Schollaert ‘16 had her men moving even with first place Bates in the last 300 meters when a boat stopping crab put the Bowdoin crew in the back of the pack. Schollaert rallied stroke Trevor McDonald ‘15, Evan Eklund ‘16, Evan Bulman ‘16 and Martin Shott ‘16 to a heart pounding recovery to claim the bronze.

These six crews put on a dominating display of depth and determination that won them 7th place overall in spite of competing in only 6 of the 14 events in the regatta!

Next week, 4 crews make the pilgrimage to Philadelphia for the 75th Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta where our top boats should be contenders for the medals.

novice women gold varsity men gold varsity women gold

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Dominate Racing

The Bowdoin Rowing Club dominated the racing at the Riverhawk Racing Series hosted by UMASS Lowell on Sat. April 20. Bowdoin won in the Varsity events for Men and Women with decisive open water gaps. In the JV races Polar A and B crews placed first and second in both the Men’s and Women’s events. The Novice Women won by lengths of open water and the Novice Men crossed the line first and third, but a penalty for lane violation cost the first boat its win and backed it down to 4th. The Navy races 4/21 at The President’s Cup with Bates and Colby in Greene, ME. Complete results at row2k.com.

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Spring Speed!

After a terrific training trip to good old Camp Bob Cooper, The Navy is off to a speedy beginning to spring season.

At The Big Three with Amherst and Middlebury on April 13, Bowdoin won 4 of the 8 events for fours, and was second in the remaining 4. In the Eights, Bowdoin finished just a length behind Midlebury in hard fought rows up the Connecticut.

The Varsity Women, Varsity Men, Lightweight Men, and Novice Men all posted victories while the Second and Third Women, Novice Women and Second Men raced hard to claim second in thier events. Bowdoin’s Second Novice Men finished third in the Novice Men’s race, fast enough to beat Amherst’s First Novice entry.

Next weekend the Navy travels to Lowell, MA to the Riverhawk Racing Series with UMASS and others, and on Sunday contests the President’s Cup with Colby and Bates at Greene, ME.

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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.