VOTW: Pac-10 Women's Challenge, 2011



This week's VOTW comes from Redwood Shores, CA, and features some marquee match-ups between heavy-hitting D1 NCAA women's rowing programs. It's also a step forward for the site, as it is the first such video recorded and produced by RowingRelated. The first dual to come down the course was between California (CRCA ranked #3 in the most recent poll, RR ranked #2) and UCLA (CRCA ranked #14, RR #11) in the Varsity 8. California took an early lead, and continued to build on that lead through the second 1000m of the course. This was followed by Stanford (CRCA #4, RR #3) v. Virginia (CRCA #1, RR #4) -- a race in which the Cardinal built an early lead and were able to hang on despite a charge from UVA in the last 600m. The third race on this windy, rainy morning was between last year's top two Women's Lightweight Varsity 8s -- Stanford and Wisconsin. Again, Stanford built an early lead, and held their advantage through the second 1000m. Princeton raced Stanford the following morning, and showed that they may be the new team to beat this Spring, defeating the Cardinal in both the LWT Varsity and LWT 2V8s.

Sunday brought milder conditions, and even some sunshine to Redwood Shores. The first of the two Sunday races shown here (seen from the finish line) is between the 2V8s from Stanford and UCLA, and the second between the 2V8s from Virginia and California (UVA was borrowing equipment from Cal, so don't let the oars fool you). In addition to the racing, we also caught up with UVA Head Coach Kevin Sauer and California Head Coach Dave O'Neill in two video interviews, which will be published this week.

Congratulations to all the athletes who made this regatta a success, and certainly very fun to watch! We will be expanding our video coverage as the Spring progresses.

Note for FeedBurner subscribers: click the title of the post to view the video on our website.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Send us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com.

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