RowingRelated

This week's video offers an inside look at the GB men's rowing team during their training camp in Avis, Portugal earlier this year, and while it's certainly not short of scenery and context, what makes this video worthwhile is the amount of very high quality technical rowing—a good reminder of the finer points of the sport in the midst of summer racing season. Speaking of summer racing, the Holland Beker is set to take place this weekend on the Bosbaan in Amsterdam, and there will be a number of familiar faces from World Rowing Cup II on hand, including Julien Bahain —the French Olympian is now racing for Canada (and just placed sixth overall in the men's single in Aiguebelette). Earlier today, Bahain took on Roel Braas over a 200m course at the Aegon City Sprints in Amsterdam, and, from the look of it, Bahain came out on top.

Not all that long ago, Matt Miller —six seat of the U.S. men's eight—did a series of blog posts for us, while he and his Virginia teammates were taking on all comers in the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta (where Miller and the Cavaliers reached the semifinals). (Click the links for parts one , two , three , four , five , six , seven , eight , and nine of that series.) Since then, Matt has done a lot of rowing and sculling at a very high level, and has also upped his rowing journalism game—these two videos (above and below) are parts one and two of an ongoing project documenting his summer of racing with the U.S. national team in Europe. And, from the look of it, they're managing to have at least a little fun. Some of the highlights include an interview with 2012 Olympian Steve Kasprzyk (Interlocutor: "Would you be willing to answer a few questions for the camera?" Steve: "Well, the honest answer is no, and does that count as one?"); Matt ...

This week's Sunday-edition video comes to us from the idyllic setting for the second World Rowing Cup stop of the 2014 season, Lake Aiguebelette. While it's the picture of natural splendor (and where Jamie Koven won his world title in 1997 ), it's not the easiest name to pronounce, or spell. Fortunately, Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell has you covered. Off to Egg-baguette for the @WorldRowing Cup. — N. Reilly-O'Donnell (@nrodtweets) June 18, 2014

Pete Cipollone and Scott Gault distributing the medals (Photo: B. Kitch) The 2014 USRowing youth national championship regatta showcased the top talent in the junior ranks, and saw race after race of tightly packed fields charging to the line in dramatic fashion. While the entire country was well represented, from sea to shining sea, it was the 'home' teams who most often found their way to the top—in fact, teams from the West Coast took home 11 of 18 available gold medals in Sacramento. Gives a whole new meaning to the nickname 'Gold Country,' wouldn't you say? Last Sunday's finals began with the women's single, and a great performance from last year's national silver medalist Elizabeth Sharis of Y Quad Cities—a program, headed by her father, Peter Sharis, that proved extremely efficient, much like their West Coast rivals Seattle Rowing Center. Sharis took first by roughly a length over SRC's Simone Framson , with  Emily Kallfelz of Narragans...

The 2014 USRowing Youth National Championships are getting underway in Sacramento, and it just wouldn't be us if we didn't shoot our mouths off about what we think is going to happen this weekend on Lake Natoma. While we can't cover every event this year—given the tremendous talent spread across a host of boat classes—we have a few ideas that we think you might find interesting. Shall we? Women's Single Despite the fact that Elizabeth Sharis is doubling up in the women's quad, Sharis—last year's silver medalist behind Cicely Madden (who has switched to sweep this year, racing for CRI in the pair and the eight)—is looking like the favorite to win the single this year, and could wind up on the podium twice. We are looking for Simone Framson of Seattle RC (also doubling up in the quad) to take the silver, with Emily Kallfelz  of Narragansett rounding out the podium finishes. The latter two athletes went one-two in yesterday's heats, and had the first an...

Andy Triggs Hodge: Good sport (Photo: B. Kitch) While the international rowing scene is gearing up for the second World Cup stop in Aiguebelette, France , clearly, some rowing federations are keeping it light in the midst of heavy days of training. And, there's no better example of this than the Brits—as usual, leading the way for rowing banter on the internets. Training camp can be grueling, so, every now and then, it's important to have a little fun at the expense of a double Olympic gold medalist. And, much to the chagrin of Andy Triggs Hodge , his teammates have (finally) noticed a certain similarity between Hodge's flowing locks and those of one of Britain's most famous entrepreneurs...

This week's video comes to us from Newport Beach, California, where a very competitive NAC men's squad has been logging quality miles in search of that most coveted of hardware at the junior level—a medal at the USRowing Youth National Championships , set for this weekend on Lake Natoma. At Southwest Junior Regionals in the first week of May, NAC showed that they've had an excellent recruiting year, winning the men's novice eight and second novice eight, the novice four, and the frosh eight, while at the varsity level, the NAC men took silver in the lightweight eight, bronze in the varsity four, and gold in the men's single. NAC, along with West Coast powerhouse programs Marin , Oakland Strokes , Los Gatos , and Long Beach Junior Crew will all be in action in Sacramento, and likely in contention for a number of podium appearances. More to come on junior nationals later this week here on RR—in the meantime, please follow the link for schedules and event informa...

Washington leads the way in the men's varsity eight Last weekend marked the culmination of a year's worth of work—the showdown between the best of the best to determine the men's and women's national champions—and while there was some reshuffling of the ranks, familiar faces topped the podium once again in 2014. That said, there were some newly crowned champions this year, who greatly deserve recognition. We've had a few days to let it soak in, so now, without further ado, here's our take on the 2014 championship season.

Joshua Langston-White on the dock (Photo: Daniel Koenig) Filmmaker Daniel Koenig is in the midst of a powerful project on rowing, and he could use a helping hand. Koenig is currently in the process of shooting a documentary on four adaptive rowing athletes who are aiming to make the U.S. national team this summer: Dan Ahr (shown in the video clip below), 2012 Paralympian Andrew Johnson (read his RR interview here ), Margaret Stran , and Joshua Langston-White . The film will serve to not only offer insight on the process of training for a national team bid, but also on adaptive rowing as a whole. We checked in with Koenig on the project, his rowing background, how you can donate to this project , and what's next. RR: What fist inspired this project? Did you have a personal connection to the sport beforehand? Daniel Koenig: I started rowing in Oklahoma City as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma and currently row with Rio Salado Rowing Club in Tempe, Arizona. I’ve alw...