Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta, 2011: Results, Recap and Review

This year's running of the Aberdeen Dad Vails was, without question, one of the biggest and best rowing events on the circuit, featuring live coverage via ESPN 3, commentary from Keith Russel of ABC (along with Liz Santaniello and Jason Read, who did a great job – even hitting us with a "they were all over that like spiders on a birthday cake" line at one point), interviews – the list goes on. Everyone involved deserves to be commended for their great work – the regatta has done a great deal for the sport in terms of exposure, city-wide involvement, and recognition of all that it takes to make collegiate rowing work. Watching the streaming webcast of the event on ESPN 3, I couldn't help but feel proud of all those competing, and thankful to all those who made the event possible. It's a massive step forward for rowing in the US.

Now, let's turn our head to the results. On Thursday, we released our picks for the Grand Final of the Men's Varsity 8 (The Aberdeen Trophy), with a slight contingency based on whether or not Brock could return some members of their winning 8 from last year, as well as our pick to win. Let's see how we did:

RR Picks:
1. Virginia
2. Michigan
3. Temple
4. FIT
5. Delaware
6. Brock/Williams

Results from May 14:
1. Michigan
2. FIT
3. Delaware
4. Virginia
5. Williams
6. Jacksonville

So, we picked five out of six finalists, though our order of finish wasn't quite right. The racing over the weekend was tough, and the Wolverines (our pick for the silver) proved that they had the speed to get the job done, winning by roughly a length over the field. Greg Hartsuff has done it again, and deserves all the credit and recognition he's gotten for building what is truly a perennially strong program – Michigan is still the team to beat in US collegiate club rowing. The race for second was intense between FIT and Delaware, with FIT just holding off Delaware as they charged to the line. Frank Biller's Virginia, our predicted winner, ended up in fourth place, but was just 4 seconds off first place Michigan. The two top club teams in the US were on display, as Michigan took home the prize in the Varsity 8 (as well as medals in the 2V, LWT8, Frosh LWT8, and the Frosh 4+), while Virginia won the 2V, and earned a bronze in the Frosh 8, behind strong entries from Purdue and Drexel. It will be very interesting to see how UVA and Michigan match up again at ACRAs later this month, as we've discussed.

Surprisingly, Temple didn't make the Grand (congrats on a strong performance to Jacksonville), but the field was quite deep, and both Drexel and Temple had the potential to be in the top six. Very tight racing all the way around, and very exciting to see men's club rowing continue to improve and excel on a grand stage.

The results of the men's Gold Cup were also somewhat surprising, with Iztok Cop taking home the $10,000 prize for first place, USA's own Ken Jurkowski taking second, and defending world champion Ondrej Synek crossing the line in the third position. In the first ever women's Gold Cup race, Mirka Knapkova took first place, in what was truly an elite, international field.

Congrats to all involved!

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b...
Read more

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States. ...
Read more

So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

Image
Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor...
Read more

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

Image
Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s ...
Read more

Winter Workouts: Why Do Rowers Fear the Erg?

Image
Op-Ed from the RowingRelated Editorial Staff Friend. Not foe. (Illustration: B. Kitch) I am really frustrated by our sport when it comes to the erg being viewed as a torture device rather than a helpful tool that people can enjoy. This negative mindset, which is extremely contagious, plagues the sport, preventing athletes from training to their potential and possibly serving as one of the reasons that careers in rowing, at every level, are often so short. When compared to other endurance sports, I have not encountered an equal level of disdain for such fundamental mental and physical endurance training. My main problem is that everywhere I turn in the rowing community, whether it's high school rowers, college athletes, or even national team hopefuls, I hear of people dreading the erg. I've never heard about a cross country runner 'dreading' a track workout. True, basketball and football players may dread running wind sprints or other such conditioning acti...
Read more