Races, 2008-2009
2009 US Rowing Southwest Junior Championship Regatta: The CJ's
Photos courtesy of Mark Shaw
This year's CJ's took place under bright skies and beautiful weather. 26 schools and clubs competed, representing organizations from Tempe, Ariz to Humboldt, CA. Saturday morning began with excitement for BHS Crew, as the women's frosh 8+ boat, racing in the third event of the regatta, came within 3.5 seconds of advancing to the finals. A day of strong rowing followed, but each time the BHS crews were shut out of the finals. Until late in the afternoon, when the men's frosh 4+ dueled with Marin for first place in their heat. The BHS guys fell by .1 second, but advanced to Sunday's final - the only Berkeley boat to move on from its heat.
BHS athletes rowed well all weekend long, but fell repeatedly to the stronger clubs. The men's frosh 4 boat improved its time in Sunday's final, only to finish last in that event. The women's 2 came within 2.5 seconds of moving on. The men's lightweight 8+, still a young combination, finished with a fast time of 6:51, but trailed all of the other crews. The men's 4x challenged for the lead in its heat, until an injury hampered their run. What to say? Simply "hats off" to the crews that stood out this weekend - Newport, Marin, Los Gatos, Long Beach and Capital Cities - and to all the rowers from throughout the southwest.
A weekend of "respectable" rowing left the BHS team proud, but determined to improve next year. Strong performances by several women's and men's novice boats, capping a strong season for both squads, provide excitement and hope looking forward as these athletes join the varsity. And then, there's the inevitable sadness of the CJ's: the championships signal the finale for many graduating seniors. It's been a great year, under the guidance of these remarkable young men and women.
Regatta home page, on racetrak.com...
Saturday's full results, with participant names
Sunday's full results, with participant names
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Small Clubs Regatta
Several BHS Crew boats did well in this last league race of the season. The women's novice 8+ A boat, the women's 2x- (coxless pair) and the men's lightweight 4+ won their races with strong performances. The novice men's 4x (quad) looked good in their race against the JLAC novice women's quad. Everyone looked good as the men's lightweight 8+ won their 1K sprint against the women's varsity 8+ and the JLAC masters. The men's freshman 8+ fell .6 seconds short of winning, and the men's JV4+, a new combination of rowers even so late in the year, raced out to a good lead before faltering to end a close second.
Next up: the CJs!
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Deep Water Dash
Photos courtesy of Neesa Lazarus
The Jackets rock! All that concentrated work over Spring Break paid off dearly.
Berkeley crews rowed hard all day in the 90°+ Central Valley heat, and came in first a-plenty. The men's varsity lightweight 4+, men's junior varsity 4+, women's lightweight 4+, women's novice 4+ A, women's lightweight 8+, men's 4x+, women's varsity 4+ and, to end the day, the men's freshman 4+ (racing for the second time, due to a mix up at the start of the day some five hours earlier) all took home gold medals.
Top photos courtesy of Neesa Lazarus. Team photo courtesy of Mike Steenburgh (Stockton parent)
Equaling the River City Rowing Club in first place finishes, BHS Crew won the tie-breaker and rode home with the team trophy for the day. Success made for lots of laughter and eager anticipation of this coming weekend's final league race, and after that, the CJ's.
Results, on row2k.com...
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Windermere Regatta
Windermere attracts collegiate, juniors and masters crews from as far away as Virginia to compete in a round-robin competition. The unusual course is a stone's throw from the Oracle campus, a two lane sprint with a finish barely 100 feet from the end of the channel. The juniors races were held in the afternoon, with Berkeley men's and women's eights going up against Marin, Los Gatos and Newport Aquatic. The Berkeley boats showed a great deal of grit and determination as they went head to head against three of the strongest clubs in the west. The bridge over the 750 meter mark became a noisy cheering bleacher for the Berkeley parents and supporters as the boats passed under- a great way to see the power and poise of the athletes as they rowed under.
Saturday's results, on row2k.com...
Sunday's results, on row2k.com...
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Lake Natoma Regatta
Photos courtesy of Eric Carlson
On Lake Natoma, rowing just downstream of Folsom, the women's lightweight four+ (i.e., plus coxswain) made a quick escape, providing BHS Crew's first highlight of the regatta. After having lost, then won, close races on the final sprint earlier in the season, the Jacket rowers had a new strategy this day: "Start with a win, and make it bigger." Bolting to an early lead, the women did just that, finishing half a minute ahead of their closest rival.
The women's varsity lightweight 8+ rowed well, too, going up against two open weight Marin boats. Though the results will show a third place finish, they put in a strong, successful effort.
The afternoon brought rain, and more excitement for BHS. The men's lightweight four+, having practiced longer strokes at a lower rate, finally put it together in competition, rowing to a strong first place finish, beating the Capitol lightweight men by open water.
Then, led by novice cox Nick Suess, the men's quad ("4x") put in a strong showing in the new BHS quad, powering to a first place finish. As winning rower/coxswain, Nick was treated to a dunking in the estuary upon the team's return to JLAC.
One of the closest and most heartbreaking finishes of the day was the Women's Freshman 8+. The BHS women were bow ball to bow ball with Capitol fighting for second place over the entire last 1000 meters, ultimately falling to third by a mere seat length at the finish.
Photo courtesy of Eric Carlson
Eric Carlson's SmugMug gallery...
Women's results, on row2k.com...
Men's results, on row2k.com...
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Redwood Shores Regatta at the Port of Redwood City
As a parent exclaimed, this was the Zen of spectator sports: viewing the race from the start. Watching the boats put in, the rowers warm up, the other crews appear from somewhere down-channel, the officials align the boats to the (imaginary) starting line. They're off! The oars pry the shells forward. The rowers go through their opening cadence, then settle down into the body of the race. Around the bend they go, and then ... no more. What happened? Who won? How'd we finish? No answers until minutes later, when the guy who's connected by cellphone hears from the person at the other end of the course.
Two Berkeley boats won first place: the women's pair - racing for the first time - and the women's JV4B+, going one on one against NorCal in the last race of the day. Congratulations! The men's and women's novice eights each took second, losing to NorCal, in early races. The women's lightweight 4+ fell to Los Gatos by eight seconds. The men's lightweight 4+ took third place, four seconds behind 2nd place Serra and eight seconds off the pace set by the winning NorCal boat. The men's freshman 8+ lost (what must have been) a dogfight, finishing third, one second behind Serra and eight seconds behind first-place NorCal.
Other boats started strong, but faltered, either within view of the crowd or somewhere around the bend. Crew is a matter of executing your plan, taking care of your technique at every moment, winning stroke after stroke. More work, and try again next week!
Race results, as posted on row2k.com (pdf)
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Battle of the Bay
Photos courtesy of Dave Dean
Saturday's Battle of the Bay featured the Oakland Strokes hosting crews from Berkeley High School, Saint Ignatius High School and the Marin Rowing Association. Parents, families and rowers from each squad cheered their boats, singing out their side's chant to inspire their athletes as they rowed to the finish line. "Juice the Jackets. Juice, juice the Jackets... ."
The day started with two remarkable races. The BHS women's lightweight 4+ "walked" - i.e., gained - a boat length and a half against their host's crew in what seemed like the last forty meters to take first place by 2.3 seconds. It was quite a sprint, exactly what the crew had practiced all week. Next, the Marin men's novice 8+ righted its course with only a few hundred meters to go and sped past their opponent just at the finish line. Not far behind, the BHS boat took a strong third behind those two clubs.
In other highlights, the men's Varsity 4+ and (varsity) lightweight 4+ each took second place in their races, the lightweights falling to an open-weight boat. The lightweight 4+ B boat, having first rowed as a group on Thursday, looked good in taking a fourth place finish in that race.
It's not easy for the high school teams to keep up with the bigger club squads, especially early in the season. BHS rowers raced hard all day long. "Row, mighty Jackets!"
'Battle of the Bay' Picasa web photo gallery...
Eric Carlson's SmugMug gallery...
Race results from row2k.com: part I... part II...
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Novice Regatta / Varsity Round Robin Regatta
Photos courtesy of Eric Carlson
Traditionally, the Novice Regatta marks not only the beginning of the racing season, but the beginning of rowing careers. The event, hosted by the Pacific Rowing Club at Lake Merced in San Francisco, attracts teams from San Diego, Newport, Marina (LA), and Humboldt Bay, as well as clubs from Sacramento, the Delta, and the Bay Area. Saturday, after a winter of erging and limited water practice, the BHS Crew novices went oar to oar against their peers in fierce and exciting competition over a 1500 meter course.
BHS rowers put in some strong performances. The women's freshman 4+ and the men's novice 4+ B boats each rowed to decisive second place finishes in their final heats, boatlengths ahead of the rest of the pack. Other boats found themselves in duels at the end of their heats. The women's novice 8+ B boat edged Los Gatos for 4th place in their final by three seconds. The women's freshman 8+ tangled for third with Newport and the Pacific Rowing Club (PRC) before finishing just 2.7 seconds behind fourth-place PRC. The men's novice 8+ A boat fell just 1.2 seconds short of fourth-place Los Gatos. Most importantly, in their first real racing experience, our novice rowers learned what racing is all about - when to eat (and when not), getting boats rigged and on the water, getting to the start on time, making it straight down the course, and then, after minutes of sprinting, reaching deep for the stamina and strength to make time against the other boats as they near the finish line - it ain't easy!
Eric Carlson's Novice Regatta photo gallery at SmugMug.com
Saturday's novice results from row2k.com...
On Sunday, the varsity rowed against Saint Ignatius High School and rowing clubs from Marin, Los Gatos, Stanford, River City, Capital, Pacific (host), San Diego, Marina, Newport and Humboldt Bay. The conditions were, officially, "wet, just plain wet." The rowers braved the weather (as did a good number of parents!) and turned in a number of fine performances. The women's lightweight 4+ gave Stanford a run for first place, falling by just four seconds. The men's lightweight 4+ took a strong second. At the end of the afternoon, the men's varsity 4+ took second in their heat, rowing with long, sweeping strokes that portend good things for the future. Two of the guys in that boat then jumped into seats with the lightweight 8+ for their third race of the day, finishing an impressive fourth, never far from the leaders.
Sunday's varsity results, from row.2k.com...
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Peninsula Indoor Rowing Championships
Photos courtesy of Eric Carlson
Imagine erging against rowers from three other teams, your progress measured by a little drawing of a shell on a video screen in front of you, in a gymfull of screaming fans. Big, crazy fun!
That was the scene at the Peninsula Indoor Rowing Championships on February 8. Twenty novice and varsity women competed against Stanford Rowing Club, Pacific Rowing Club and Saint Ignatius. Kate Meyer took second place in the Junior Event. Mari Sulheim was edged out of first place by .1 seconds, with Signe Henderson right behind her taking third place in the Junior Novice Event. Signe Henderson also took first place and Anya Christy took second place in the Freshman Event. Congratulations to all rowers who competed!
BHS Crew parent Eric Carlson took a great set of pictures. Enjoy them in Eric's SmugMug gallery. Thank you Eric!
More photos can be found on the BHS Crew Picasaweb gallery.
Download the results.
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Bair Island Regatta
Photo courtesy of Mark Shaw
Foster City couldn't have looked better than it did on this beautiful, summer-like November Sunday. Crews from around the Bay Area, juniors and masters, rowed the twisty course of the lagoon, one after another, racing against the clock. With just ten seconds separating the start of each boat in a heat, there was plenty of chance for clashing around the bends.
BHS Crew parents took lots of pictures - several albums' worth. View two Picasa web albums (here and here) and a SmugMug album, too!
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Head of the Estuary
Berkeley's rowers raced for the first time since May. Three men's junior 4 boats had the field to themselves, with the team's "B" boat giving its "A" boat a run for the money. Three women's junior 4 boats were among 11 racing; the Berkeley "A" boat turned in the second fastest time. The women's 8 faced boats from the Strokes, Long Beach, and Los Gatos.
The fall race brought out collegiate teams and scullers as well, including the UC Berkeley lightweights. Oakland Strokes hosted.
Review all the results at row2k.com
See more photos at PicasaWeb
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