RowingRelated

(Photo courtesy of fourmeninaboat.com ) Inside of a week, four rowers from London Rowing Club in Putney (southwest London) have put together not only a great adventure, but a great way to support a cause as they make their way down the Thames. As has been outlined on Göran R. Buckhorn's blog, ' Hear the Boat Sing ,' echoing the official ' Four Men in a Boat ' website (which is quite slick), the rowers ( Stephen Feeney , Iain Weir , James Clarke , and Mark Bavington ) have set off on a journey from Lechlade-on-Thames in Gloucestershire (just west of Oxford) to Putney in order to raise awareness for the Advocacy for Neuroacanthocytosis . Stephen Feeney and James Clarke have both represented GB internationally, with Clarke having won medals at the World Championships as both a lightweight (gold in the LM4- in 2007) and a heavyweight (silver in the M8+ in 2010), in addition to competing with Team GB in Beijing. Iain Weir is a freelance photographer with a great dea...

The US U23 squad had a very successful regatta over the weekend, with fast conditions paving the way for a huge number of new world best times on the Bosbaan. As has come to be expected, the women's squad was both deep and strong, with the pair of Grace Luczak (bronze medalist in Karapiro) and Felice Mueller (gold medal and world best time from last year's U23 World Championships) winning and breaking last year's record by roughly nine seconds, then jumping into the eight and taking bronze. The men's team also had several strong performances, and came away with two medals of their own, in the lightweight single and the eight. Andrew Campbell , who took bronze in the LM1x (backing up a bronze in the M1x at last year's Junior World Championships), is making quite a name for himself on the lightweight circuit. And, yet again, Mike Teti has coached a record-breaking eight that took home the gold from a World Championship regatta. Let's talk about that last poin...

"CATCH" (The Pilot) from Richard Truter on Vimeo . This week's video is a preview of what looks to be a fantastic series on the selection for the GB LM2x during the final year of the Olympic cycle, leading up to the London Games. The well known, and very well established duo of Mark Hunter and Zach Purchase may face some challenges unknown to the rowing outsider, as a year's hiatus from the squad following Beijing, as well as illnesses have kept the two from taking on the full training and racing schedule they would otherwise have tackled, and other talented members of what is an extremely deep GB squad have made strong cases to be considered for the top lightweight event. The series will be called 'Catch,' and includes shots of both training and racing, as well as candid interviews with the athletes, as this preview shows. As we discussed in our last article, it was announced last week that Mark Hunter and Zach Purchase will be reunited to defend t...

Yesterday, the official roster and lineups for the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia were announced by GB Rowing. Taking a look at the lineups, perhaps the biggest surprise from the announcement is the complete lack of surprises. Then again, as we say in the States, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Lucerne was an extremely successful regatta for the British, who won a total of ten medals, and looked solid across the board, despite a couple noticeable absences. Alan Campbell missed the regatta due to an illness described as a 'sore throat,' which shows that the British are continuing to take every precaution to ensure that their athletes produce to their full potential at Worlds this year, creating the right kind of momentum (as well as sense of inevitability among the other competing nations) for major success on home waters in 2012. Zach Purchase was similarly kept out of the racing due to illness, but will rejoin Mark Hunter in the double i...

Apparently the Canadian National Team knows how to have a good time, as well as go fast. Will Crothers introduces us to his 'Luzern Crib,' with some fairly impressive editing/production values, not to mention the appropriate 'swag.' Someone suggested that we do a 'Rowing Cribs' episode with the Winklevoss twins – after watching what Will and teammate Rares Crisan have put together here, let me say I am inspired. For more on Will's journey as he and the Canadian National Team prepare for London, check out his website at http://www.willtowin.ca . Rares Crisan is a member of the Canadian Lightweight National Team. For more, visit his website at http://www.raresrhythm.com . Note for FeedBurner subscribers: Click the title of the article to view the video on our website.

Lucerne was a fantastic regatta this year, and while Rowing New Zealand looks to be rivaling GB for the best squad in the world right now, the US also made some great strides.  Rowing Canada Aviron had several strong performances, the US men posted some of the best results we've seen since the Teti era, and the depth of the US women's team is truly incredible. First, let's talk about the Kiwis. The best-known, and perhaps most dominant crew that the All Blacks have out there right now is the men's pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray . The duo looked phenomenal over the weekend in their first race this year against rivals Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed of Great Britain, winning the event by roughly seven seconds (not quite the barn-burner that was expected given the outstanding results for the GB pair at Henley two weeks ago). In the women's pair, the NZ duo of Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh took second place, just behind a young but well-coached (and ve...

Fantastic racing in the women's pairs grand final in Lucerne yesterday, with last year's gold and silver medalists from Karapiro going blow for blow all the way to the line. The final also features two US crews – the athletes ( Susan Francia and Meghan Musnicki in USA 2, and Taylor Ritzel and Caroline Lind in USA 1) have been in the eight so far this year, most recently winning the Remenham Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. Not to be outdone by their Team USA counterparts in the pairs, the eight had a great race, coming back from an early third place position to out-sprint an extremely talented Canadian women's eight for the gold medal. The US eight was reshuffled within the last week, and featured some new faces, including Pac-10 champion Kara Kohler (fresh off her win in the quad at Henley), and fellow Pac-10 athlete and 2008 Olympic champ Elle Logan of Stanford. Coming up next - Lucerne in Review: GB and Kiwis Dominant, Team USA on the Rise. Want to sug...

The final World Rowing Cup of the summer has begun in Switzerland, and there are a number of crews we'll be keeping our eyes on as the regatta season builds toward the dramatic finale in a fittingly dramatic location – Bled, Slovenia. Lucerne and Bled will also be extremely important regattas for the US men's squad, as the team suffered some difficult losses last November in Karapiro, and has yet to fully find its competitive edge under (relatively) new head coach Tim McLaren . The US women, on the other hand, will look to continue a stretch of dominance that goes back to the previous Olympiad – so far, so good. Some of the most highly anticipated match-ups will be coming this weekend in the small boats. The men's pair will feature a showdown between the two top crews from last year's World Championship final, GB's Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed v. Hamish Bond and Eric Murray of New Zealand. Hodge and Reed fell to the Kiwi duo last year by the narrowest of...

We received the following press release recently from the folks at We Can Row Boston, and want to help spread the word: WE CAN ROW BOSTON SEEKING POETRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY SUBMISSIONS Journal to be published this Fall to raise funds for rowing club of breast cancer survivors. June 24, 2011 (BOSTON, MA) - We Can Row Boston, a wellness and recovery program for breast cancer survivors, is seeking original, rowing-related poetry and photography submissions for a journal that will be published in the Fall of 2011. Proceeds from the sale of "Rowetry in Motion" will directly benefit current programming and allow We Can Row Boston to greatly expand financial aid availability to interested women. "One of our primary goals is to help each rower become an active participant in her own recovery," said Phyllis Groskin, president of We Can Row Boston. "We believe that the creative energy of a poetry and photography journal about rowing mirrors the passion for the sport ...

Afternoon in the Stewards' Enclosure (Photo: RR) There are few regattas as difficult to predict as Henley, but, with a big 'ta' to our 'unnamed source,' we managed to do a respectable job this year. On the international front, the British men were the class of the field in the elite events, while the US women were in top form gearing up for Lucerne. The Temple saw several records broken (again, and again), with the top US collegiate talent showing its strength. In the club events, some familiar faces, as well as some notable international crews took home medals. Let's take a look. The elite events were, for the most part, on par with expectations. Though we didn't offer a prediction, the Germans continued their dominance in the eight, and Triggs-Hodge and Reed looked outstanding in the pair, tying a course record for overall time in the final set by a reasonably well known duo (Pinsent and Redgrave), despite winning by a verdict of 'easily.' T...

This week's video comes to us from EARC Sprints, and features an inside look at the Dartmouth lightweight eight, which took the silver behind then-undefeated Harvard in Worcester. The video includes a recording of the Big Green coxswain as he guides the crew all the way down the course, as well as some 'epic' music. Dartmouth head coach Dan Roock is now getting ready to host a USRowing sanctioned development camp for the senior lightweight eight, beginning July 6 at 2pm at the Friends of Dartmouth Rowing boathouse. The selected crew will compete at the 2011 US Senior Trials for a chance to race at the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. For a full press release from Rowing News, click here . Happy Independence Day from everyone at RowingRelated! Note for FeedBurner subscribers: Click the title of the article to view the video on our website. Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, or se...

UVa through Fawley, Temple Semifinal (Photo: Allen Miller) The UVa men carried a great deal of momentum into today's semifinal v. a talented Dutch crew from ASR Nereus . The Cavs fought well, but when all was said and done, the verdict was 1 length to Nereus, and one of the most successful seasons in the history of the UVa Men's Rowing Program came to a close. On the other side of the bracket, California's frosh eight, coached by UVa alum Wyatt Allen , defeated the Harvard freshmen to reach the final. En route to victory, the Golden Bears broke their own course record to Fawley again .  Here's Matt's take on Saturday's racing in Henley: Saturday at Henley is bustling with energy and spectators. It seems like the number of Virginia fans doubled overnight. We’ve gained the support of a number of eliminated American crews, as well as the English crews we beat earlier in the week. It was great getting so many cheers on our way to the starting line. This mor...

Henley-on-Thames, England: UVa Reaches Semifinals at Henley Royal Regatta The Cavaliers faced another tough challenge today from the last British crew remaining in the Temple, and again UVa came out on top. Though the University of London was very quick off the line, the Cavs were able to reel them in through the middle of the piece, establishing firm control by Fawley.  Here's Matt's view of the race from the five seat of the UVa eight: The last remaining English crew of the Temple Cup did not go down without a fight. A poor start put us down to the University of London by a seat or two, but as we lengthened down to base rate, we gained back ground we had lost. The middle of the race is where we won it. We accomplished our goal of finding the rhythm that we were missing yesterday. It didn’t feel like we had worked very hard up to Fawley, and we continued to walk away. Like yesterday, a move put us a full length ahead. UL brought the rate up with about 400m to go, but only ...