12th Annual Matthew Zucker Memorial 1,500,000 Ergathon

Fall Youth Programs:

Preseason Camp 8/23 - 8/27 [Experienced/Novice]

We did it!

Bill Russell places 4th at Essex Open Water race!

NRRA Youth Bring home a championship!

NRRA Youth rock at Saratoga Inivational with 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze medals!

Norwalk River tugs and quads

Courtesy of Bernard Ente www.entephoto.com 

NRRA Brings home medals! Congratulations to the Boys Varsity Lightweight 8 and boys Varsity Lightweight 4!

Even the snow(wo)men win Gold Medals at the NRRA!

The NRRA presents the CT chapter of the Susan G. Komen foundation with a check for $7,311.00 from the 1st Annual Row for the Cure

10/31/2009

Happy Halloween (courtesy of Liz)

NRRA Rows 1,502,300 Meters in 11th Annul Matthew Zucker Memorial Ergathon

Many thanks to the dedicated rowers and team of volunteers who made last Saturday’s Ergathon and Tag Sale a huge success.  With the help of 103 youth, 28 friends and family of NRRA, and 20 masters and coaches, we were able to surpass our goal by 2,300 meters in just over 7 hours!  Pledges are still coming in, but to date we’ve raised just over $10,000…only a small portion of our goal of raising $35,000 to support youth scholarships during the 2009-2010 season.  It’s not too late to make your contribution (or collect your pledges) for the Matthew Zucker Memorial Scholarship Fund.

NRRA Men win Gold medals at the FISA Masters World Championships in Vienna, Austria!Congrats Bill and Klaas!

Rowing Strong, Rowing Together wins Silver!

Masters Nationals: Update #1

Hi All,

I'm checking in from Camden, NJ with a long-awaited update on our racing at Masters Nationals! 

Thursday

NRRA started off the regatta with a bang as Bev and Don won their heat in one of the first events of the day, the Mixed F 2x!  They cruised down the race course and comfortably came across the finish line in the lead.  Next up was the Womens Club C 4x, with Sarah, Jessie, Bev and Katy.  The race didn't go exactly as planned and they did not advance to the final.  We decided to mve on and focus onthe rest of the racing.  In the heats of the Womens Ltwt B 1x, Juliet and Steph each came in second to advance to the final!  The Mixed E 4x lineup of Don, Sarah, Bev and Phil came in third in their heat (without sprinting) to advance to the final in the afternoon.  In the Womens Open A 4x, Jessie, Juliet, Katy and Steph came in second to advance.

Aren't you tired after reading all of that?  Those races all happened before lunch!  Sarah and Laura came prepared with a delicious spread. Those of us not racing (or weighing in) ate some delicious cheese while basking in the afternoon humidity.  Laura - that chilled cucumber soup was absolutely delightful!

During the afternoon finals we had some great racing as well.  Bev and Don had a terrific race and finished second in the Mixed F 2x, winning a silver medal!  Juliet and Steph got to race each other in the final of the Womens Ltwt B 1x.  Steph finshed fourth, just 1 second out of the medals.  Juliet had a great race and finished sixth.  Everyone should be applauding her for making the final at Nationals in her first race in a 1x (not to mention that she hasn't been rowing it that long either)!  The Mixed E 4x finished sixth in their final, and I think they were pretty spent at that point.  The Womens A 4x finished fourth in their race.  They had a terrific row and were all happy with their race.  The last race of the day was the M/S 2x, with Sarah and Grady.  They raced a terrific race and finished third, winning a bronze medal!  It was so much fun to watch them come down the course.

The weather was completely unpredictable all day.  The day started off overcast with large clouds looming overhead.  We had a bit of a downpour in the middle of the day and finished off with sun and humidity.  I basically spent the day running around between the trailer, the launching docks, the finish line, the recovery docks, the trailer, launch, recovery, finish, back to launch and then quickly to recovery  ..... you get the idea.

I'll be back on my next break with more racing updates.  Stay tuned ...

best,
Leanne

NRRA Members, Bill and Wayne, take on the Blackburn Challenge (Open water race)

Club nationals Report #5

On Saturday NRRA had a terrific day of racing!

First up were Melanie and Sara in the Women's Senior 2x. They raced a great race and came in fourth out of 7 boats! The 2x finally came together and they were able to race the race that we all knew they were capable of. They looked relaxed and strong coming through the 1500m mark where we were cheering them on from.

Next was Steph in the Women's Senior Ltwt 1x. The Senior Ltwt 1x is typically one of the more competitive events at Nationals. Steph started strong and made her move around the 1,000m mark and just didn't stop! Steph raced an aggressive race and finished a close third (only 1 second difference between 2nd and 3rd place) and rowed away with a bronze medal. Look for photos of her on the medals dock.

Bill and Brian finally had their race in the Men's Senior Ltwt 2x. They came in a comfortable third place out of four boats to end up on the medals dock as well. After their race they commented that this was one of the best rows they have had. They proudly displayed their bronze medals the day. Last night the women went for a short row in the 4x and felt pleased and ready to race today when they came off the water.

We all went for dinner at Carraba's last night (yes - Bill and Brian chose the restaurant and they managed to make weight this morning) and sacked out pretty early.

This morning Steph raced in the final of the Women's Senior 1x. She came in 4th overall and managed to race some ladies that were twice her size! Still coming up are the Men's intermediate Ltwt 2x and the Women's Senior 4x.

I probably won't be able to get online after those, so check racetrak.com for results or watch for an email on Monday. We're going to hit the road right after our racing is completed for the long haul back to Norwalk. These guys should take the rest of the week off, but I'll see all of you at practice Tuesday morning!

Best, Leanne

LEANNE PRACTICES MEASURING PITCH....ON A TRAILER?????

Club nationals Report #4

Hi All,

Today was another hot day of racing in Oak Ridge!

In the semi-final of the Women's Intermediate 2x, Sara and Melanie came in 6th.  They were pleased with their race and I thought they looked much more comfortable and relaxed.  Don't confuse that with not being aggressive* racers, the relaxed shoulders and hands enabled them to have much better timing, row with more power, and concentrate on executing their race plan.

Brian and Bill came in a comfortable 3rd place in the semi-final of the Men's Intermediate Ltwt 2x in order to qualify for the final.

Stephanie came in 2nd in the semi-final of the Women's Senior 1x (yes - the openweight event!) to qualify for the final.  She had the third fastest time overall and was only 0.05 seconds behind first place (check out the photo finish on racetrak).  Steph raced an excellent race.  When she launched, I told her to just go out and race her race, and that I would be looking for her to make her move.  She took her move and never let up!  She also had the toughest conditions of the day (look at the photos on the NRRA homepage).

Steph and I went for a light jog this evening and with me by her side she was forced into doing the heavyweight shuffle.  Tomorrow I'll have more results from the first round of finals!

Best,
Leanne

Club nationals Report!

We've finished our first day of semi-finals!

The Women's Intermediate 4x (Sara. Melanie, Colleen, Stephanie) came in 4th in their semi and missed advancing to the final by just a few seconds.  We all agreed that it wasn't their best race and they didn't look as sharp going down the course as they usually do.  The good news is that there are concrete things to improve on and take to the next 4x race, which is on Sunday!  I think one thing that hurt us is that because practice was canceled Wednesday evening, we were not able to get onto the course in the 4x.  It has been nearly a full week since that boat has gone out for a row.  We'll have a couple of opportunities to practice the 4x between now and then.

Bill and Brian came in 5th in the semi-final of the Men's Intermediate 2x.  They were happy with their race and are looking forward to their lightweight events (intermediate ltwt 2x and senior ltwt 2x).

In other news our first race of the day wasn't until 5pm, so we used the opportunity to see the new Harry Potter movie at the theatre near our hotel.  After spending so much time in small rooms and cramped in the car on the way down here, we look for every opportunity to get out of the heat and find something to occupy our down time.  The movie was quite entertaining and all of the Harry Potter fans gave it a thumbs up.

Tomorrow I'll have news about Melanie and Sara in the semi-final of the Intermediate 2x and Stephanie in the Senior 1x!

Best,
Leanne

Club nationals Report!

Our first day of racing is complete!

Here's the rundown: In their heat of the Women's Intermediate 2x, Melanie and Sara cruised to a second place finish in order to advance to the semi-final.

Laura and Marissa had their first experience of racing at this level in a pretty tough heat. I think they got a bit overwhelmed when they suddenly realized that they didn't have a coxswain to tell them what to do at the starting line. All in all, not their best race, but I'm pretty proud of them for getting this first one under their belts.

In the Men's Intermediate 2x, Brian and Bill overcame a rocky start to squeak into third place. They advanced to the semi-final by 0.7 seconds!

In the afternoon, Laura and Marissa went out for a second race of the day in the Women's Junior A 2x. They came in fourth in their heat (only the top 2 boats from each heat qualify), but we are all happy with their race. They went out with a goal of beating the boat in the lane next to them, which they did by 30 seconds! All in all, I think the first race jitters are gone.

A storm came through late this afternoon with rain and lightening. Racing was delayed around an hour, which pushed the schedule back quite a bit. Practice this evening was canceled in order to complete the racing schedule. The officials are staying at our hotel and Steph and I saw them returning around 8:45pm. That makes for a long day in the heat! I think they made up for it because when we returned from Starbucks we saw them sitting outside by the pool with some cold beverages. All that is left on the agenda tonight is a lot of sleep!

Tomorrow I'll be back with reports of the Men's Intermediate 2x semi-final and the Women's Intermediate 4x semi-final.

Best, Leanne

Community Challenge tears up the Norwalk River!- On Saturday, the 1st Annual NRRA Community Challenge took to the river and lined up for some exciting racing! Teams formed by businesses, schools and families raced for supremacy on the Norwalk River after 5 weeks of training. The quad event was won by Team KFAC (Kayak for a Cause). They won both match ups against Team Rowing Wounded (Source Marketing). The 8's event was won by The Strokers (Naramake Elementary School) over the River Rats (Brien McMahon H.S.), the Rockin Rowers and the Crewsaders (Greenwich Associates). The fun and excitement at the NRRA boathouse was amazing! Get ready for next year's event, already being planned!

I gotta say, there weren't enough fingers and toes crossed or we weren't fast enough. I'll blame the toes :-)

The speed here is very impressive and despite some of the best we've seen out of our guys, it wasn't enough. Sometimes you're just not the better crew. I suppose if you're going to lose, better at the National Championships!

The LtWts showed some amazing attitude today. I've never watched 8 guys pull so hard! Despite this, they didn't place in the top 3 so they didn't advance to the semi-finals!

The HvyWts did the same and finished with the same. An early trip to spectatorsville. Us coaches were very impressed with some limits that were broken today!

The Pair is the only NRRA crew that drew blood today, knocking off one crew and finishing 16th overall. Congrats!! Sorry, technical difficulties prevent pictures from this afternoon's racing :-(

There was a great moment today when Ned Brokaw poured the champagne over the bow of the WVB Princeton '52.

This new men's boat was added to the fleet this spring in memory of his dad, a member of Princeton's crew in the 50's. After the ceremony, the Seniors, Captains and Ned and Wendy Brokaw went for a row on glass water! What a great time! This boat helped the LtWts qualify at NEMA and then the HvyWts rowed it this weekend. Special thanks to all that helped!

So while the boys are driving go-carts and flirting with Wayland-Weston girls (don't tell Tom's girlfriend :-)), I'm writing this last post for the USRowing Youth National Championships. It's actually been fun running around scrounging wifi and updating everyone! All of us coaches are extremely proud of all the athletes and thank all the parents for their help. We had an extremely young squad here this year and are already excited for Nationals 2010! For those of you at home, get to work! Preparations are already beginning........

Cheers,
Charles

Youth Racing brings home more Gold!
Coxswain Tossing 101! (when you win, the cox goes for a swim)