Crew Classic 2015: Interviews and Editors' Picks from Mission Bay, San Diego [Photos]

Texas launching for the final on Mission Bay (Photo: B. Kitch)
This year's San Diego Crew Classic may have been a little undersubscribed in the varsity-level events, but there was no shortage of excitement in the women's Division I field. The junior events also saw some fireworks, with Marin's varsity eight edging Bay Area rival Oakland in the final by just 0.1 of a second on Sunday, while the men's Cal Cup featured a sterling sprint from UCSB that moved the Gauchos into first in the final 500 meters. Here are a few more of our highlights from the weekend on Mission Bay.

The intercollegiate events in San Diego were, as expected, lopsided in favor of Cal on the men's side, but more than a little interesting on the women's side. "We had said well, we're looking to be good. And our standards of good have changed," says newly appointed Texas Women's Rowing head coach Dave O'Neill. "In January/February, when people started pulling some real numbers, the rowing became more consistent and looking good—we realized we could be good."



Apparently, things are indeed pointing in the right direction. While few people in the rowing community would be surprised that the longtime Cal head coach who led such a successful Golden Bears program would have success in his new state, we'd be lying if we said we expected the 'O'Neill effect' to take hold this quickly. Remember to factor in O'Neill's coaching the U23 women's eight for USRowing last summer, and you start to really appreciate just how much this burnt orange squad has accomplished in a short time.



Mobile users: Click here for the RR Crew Classic 2015 Photo Album on Flickr

Meanwhile, for the Cal men (who 'suffer' through #CaliWinter on home water and don't typically have a training trip), Crew Classic offered an opportunity to travel together, go through the paces of a multi-day regatta, and come together as a team. "I remember back east, the winter training trip was where the team sort of came together—it wasn't so much you go to get the training, it's more we become a team," head coach Mike Teti explains. "And look, they do a great job down here putting on a really good event—we love coming down."



In the men's Cal Cup, UCSB proved that their winter training is paying off against a field that included some smaller varsity programs in the form of USD and Santa Clara. The Gauchos bounced back from an early-season loss to the Broncos, and made the most of their trip to San Diego in dramatic fashion. "I didn't really want to put much stock into the heat times—you have to be careful about doing that down here," says UCSB head coach Desmond Stahl. "That last 500—that was all them. They had raced a pretty good race up to that point, and USD was clearly going to be pretty tough to catch, but they recognized the moment, and said, 'we can't wait.'"

The lightweight field saw the Purdue men and Stanford women defend their titles, while Duke won another women's Cal Cup trophy. The junior events showed that the West Coast will have some serious competitors at USRowing Youth Nationals this year, with Saugatuck making an early season statement with an open-water victory on the women's side and PNRA/Mercer just behind them, while the men's side was a 'battle of the Bay [Area]' that saw two crews fighting it out all the way to the line. Don't sleep on the Newport Aquatic Center, however. NAC finished third with a young squad that has some upside—both the NAC men and Marin women will no doubt mature quickly over the course of the next month and be ready when the time comes to grab national championship berths at regionals.

For complete results from San Diego, please visit the official website of Crew Classic.

-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

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 up before 4:30am. So, wh
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

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

Image
This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland.  As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just ove
Read more