RowingRelated

This week's video comes to us from Down Under, and features highlights from the 2012 Australian Boat Race—an event that eerily resembled the proceedings in 2014, with Sydney taking top honors on the men's side, while the MUWBC women prevailed for the fifth time in five tries. The race featured a number of Australian national team athletes, and while the Melbourne men managed to wrench the trophy from their Sydney counterparts in 2013, this year Fergus Pragnell and company reclaimed the cup on home water. You can read a summary of the racing , which saw SUBC top MUBC by 12 seconds, and MUWBC defeat SUWBC by a very convincing 33 seconds, on the official site of the Australian Boat Race.

This week's featured video playlist pulls together six different Aussie college (high school) rowing films, each of which is strikingly well made—and all of which get you ready for racing. From on-the-water training shots, to land workouts, to race footage, this playlist offers insight into all aspects of the sport, as well as (hopefully) inspiration to all those rowing filmmakers in the U.S. gearing up for a long winter and spring season of training and competition. The schools included in this playlist are Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore), from North Sydney, New South Wales; Scotch College (Perth, Western Australia); Brisbane Boys' College (Toowong, Queensland); Melbourne Grammar School (Victoria); The King's School , from North Parramatta (suburbs of Sydney), New South Wales, Australia; and St. Joseph's Nudgee College (Boondall, suburb of Brisbane, Queensland). And speaking of Australia, this coming weekend marks the renewal of a traditional r...

Eliot Bridge, Charles River (Photo: B. Kitch) The 50th Head Of The Charles is, well, a big deal. That much is obvious from looking at the entries in the Championship events—rowing stars and Olympic medalists abound, not to mention a host of the top collegiate programs from across the country, and across the pond. So, naturally, we feel obligated to shoot our mouths off about what's going to happen over the weekend—here's hoping we're better at predicting the outcome in rowing than ESPN is at picking winners in baseball . Here we go.

This very short clip (thanks to Sean Wolf), and the tweets below, are among the emerging evidence that the scullers Great Eights are on the scene in Boston, and already prepping for the main event on Sunday. The difference for these crews is that, of course, they'll be racing in various lineups on Saturday as well. Advantage sweepers? Maybe—picks and predictions for the weekend coming up shortly here on RR. In the meantime, here's a refresher on all the Great Eight lineups .

The original sketch for the RR logo design (Photo: B. Kitch) Amidst the flurry of activity leading up to the 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta , RowingRelated turned four over the weekend. I wanted to take a second to acknowledge that, and say thanks. When I first began this site on October 11, 2010, I had no idea the places it would take me, or how much it would grow—not only has it kept me connected to the sport I love, but, more importantly, it has kept me connected to the people who love rowing. Here are a few things that stood out to us, going back through four years of rowing journalism, banter, and just generally good times: Our first 'picks and predictions' post —from the 2010 Head Of The Charles, no less.  The first interview we ever produced—thanks again to Silas Stafford . Our first-ever series, in six parts: "What Makes the Great Ones Great?" A look back at the first two years at RowingRelated: The time that the Boat Race stopped .   I...

Last week, World Rowing announced the finalists for the 2014 World Rowing Awards, with the following press release : Lausanne, Switzerland, 09 October 2014 The finalists for the World Rowing Awards highlight the best of the year in rowing including the best men's and women's crews, the best Para-rowing crews, the best coaches and a special award for service to rowing. The list of nominees was narrowed down by the FISA Council following an initial public nomination process. Finalists for 2014 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year Eveline Peleman (BEL, Lightweight Women's Single Sculls, LW1x) At her first-ever senior championships, Eveline Peleman won a gold medal. Annekatrin Thiele, Carina Baer, Julia Lier, Lisa Schmidla (GER, Women's Quadruple Sculls, W4x) Germany's women's quad successfully defended their World Championship title and also set a new World Best Time in 2014. Sophie Mackenzie, Julia Edward (NZ...

Intérieur Sport - En 8 Majeur This week's video comes to us from the Continent, and features the two eights of French national squad athletes who made the trip over to Boston for the 49th Head Of The Charles Regatta last year. Even if you don't speak a word of French, this is 22 minutes of time well spent—from excellent shots of technical rowing, to the trip over to the U.S., to race footage from the regatta, there's much to be taken from this short film (and there's always value in seeing something familiar from a different perspective). Last year, these two crews placed a very close fourth and fifth, with the top entry (featuring several Olympians including Julien Bahain and Cedric Berrest ) just two seconds off the winning Dutch eight in a very tightly packed field. This year, France is sending another crew that includes some familiar faces from last year's effort. The lineup (c: Benjamin Manceau , 8: Benjamin Lang , 7: Julien Despres , 6: Jean-Baptiste Mac...

The men's sweep Great Eight training on the Charles (Photo: Sean Wolf) With the 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta looming ever larger on the horizon, the athletes and coaches have already begun to show up and start preparing for the main event. Earlier today, resident Charles' expert Sean Wolf of Rowing Illustrated captured several photos of the men's sweepers Great Eight—a crew that we highlighted in our Champ Eight piece recently, and which consists of Joshua Dunkley-Smith (AUS), Olivier Siegelaar (NED), Hamish Bond (NZL), Richard Schmidt (GER), Conlin McCabe (CAN), Henrik Rummel (USA), Francesco Fossi (ITA), and Jacob Barsoe (DEN), with Jack Carlson (USA) at coxswain. Looking at the photo, it appears that the above lineup has stuck, for now at least. Let the pre-race banter continue!

Newell Boathouse (Photo: B. Kitch) The 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta is just a few days away. I find I can't think of that without thinking of Harry Parker , who coached for more than half a century on that very river, and whose name became virtually synonymous with Harvard Crew. Going through some archives recently, I ran across this short audio interview that I did with Parker, when still a very green reporter, just after the 2011 Head Of The Charles—the beginning of his 50th year at the helm. It followed a morning training session on the launch with him, and I was keen to learn more about his experience of change in the sport over his long and decorated career. Listening to it again, I found that it continues to be revelatory and inspiring. I hope you feel the same way, too.

This week's video ought to get you ready for racing—the newly launched Rowing Champions League takes the sport to the heart of Berlin on the River Spree, where crews battle it out over a short 350m course in tournament fashion. The event featured an impressive list of international entries, with teams from 10 European nations participating (and Olympians in the midst of the action—check out London 2012 gold medalist Kristof Wilke sitting in the four seat of the Crefelder Rowing Club eight at 1:36 ). While it may be the polar opposite of the long (and often winding) head racing season, what it lacks in slow-twitch muscle fibers it makes up for in raw intensity. And, you can learn more about the physics of the event thanks to this post from Rowing in Motion —a rowing telemetry system that was on board with the winning crew. And there was much jubilation. To the winner go the spoils (Photo courtesy of Rowing Champions League) Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?...

Cristo Redentor, Rio (Illustration: B. Kitch) While there may still be just under two years until the Games begin in Rio, the Canadian and British rowing teams have made the trip already to explore the venue (and, most importantly, take some pretty kick-ass photos of one of the world's most beautiful cities). While they've not been out on the water, even the land training has come with some amazing views. And, what better way to visualize yourself on the start line than to actually go see it, before the main event?

Vlahos and Cal throw out the first pitch (Photo: B. Kitch) As I was going through Instagram earlier today, I ran across a very familiar photo posted by U.S. national team coxswain, and 2012 Olympian, Zach Vlahos. The photo comes from my first-ever assignment for then Rowing News (now ROWING Magazine ), which was to cover the Cal men's varsity eight's trip to AT&T Park for the old version of the magazine's website. The article is no longer online, but I've included the copy below. A big thanks to Chip Davis once again for the opportunity—for a Bay Area native and a lifelong Giants fan, it was a evening to remember.

The Charles is just around the corner (Photo: © B. Kitch) The 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta is now just a few short days away, and while they're perfectly capable of running their own hype machine, we can't help but get amped when we look at the lineups for the men's and women's 'Great Eights' this year. The Women's Championship Eight will again see a crew of top-flight scullers take on a crew of elite sweep rowers from the national training center, and the men's event features not just one, but two Great Eights (one of sweep rowers, one of scullers), as well as national team crews from the U.S. and France. In a word: Stacked. Let's take a closer look.