2014 in Review: Your 10 Favorite RR Posts This Year

Best of RR, 2014 Edition
We're mere minutes away from the beginning of a new year, and we can't wait to find out what the 2015 rowing season holds. However, there's never a better time to look back on the previous 12 months than New Year's Eve, and that's just what we're up to this evening. And so, without further ado, here are our top 10 posts (according to you) from 2014.

1. Stop Seat Racing: The Future of Crew Selection
Virginia Men's Rowing head coach Frank Biller's take on how best to select your crew, given the increasing level of data available to coaches and athletes.

2. Head of the Charles Banter: Can We Talk about how Badass This Year's 'Great Eights' Are?
Apparently, we weren't the only ones excited about the increased number (and level of badassedness) of the men's and women's Great Eights at the Head of the Charles in 2014.

3. So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?
If the level of success that this post has had is any measure, then the answer is yes. What's next? Naked regattas?

4. IRA and ACRA Rowing: Crews to Watch in 2014
Is there anything more fun than throwing a few picks and predictions out there in the preseason, just to make things interesting? Answer: No.

5. A Rower's Holiday Gift Guide, with Jack Carlson of Rowing Blazers
You gotta admit—the guy has got style.

6. No Fade for the Kiwis: Even-Splitting is the New Black
Punny title aside, Rowing New Zealand is redefining the international racing profile, with an approach that is fast from start (to middle) to finish.

7. Video Of The Week: Smooth Sculling with the Sinkovic Brothers
Who wouldn't want to watch a video of the fastest double, ever?

8. NCAA Division I Rowing: The RR Preseason Top 20 in 2014
An early (March) look at the NCAA field—the end of the championship rowing season saw two of our top three on the podium.

9. Video Clips from the U.S. National Team Training Camp in Chula Vista
An early look at last year's USRowing squad from their January training camp, thanks to Curtis Jordan.

10. Video Of The Week: 'You Only YOLO Once,' with the Australian LM4x
We admit it—based on the quality of this video, we kind of hope these guys find a way to YOLO again.

Thanks very much to the rowing community, online and off, for another great year, from all of us at RowingRelated. Here's to 2015!

-RR

Trending posts this month

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

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

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

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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 ...
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So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

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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...
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Winter Workouts: Why Do Rowers Fear the Erg?

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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...
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