The Masters team competed at Derby Sweeps & Sculls on June 10, the first time we’ve fielded both men’s and women’s masters rowers at this regatta in Shelton, Connecticut. The weather was perfect, the food was copious (and delicious), and our blue-and-white striped tent made a bold statement.
The competition was very good and deep, with 37 entries from Maritime RC, 36 from Saugatuck, and 34 from Greenwich compared to 18 from Riverside.
Riverside had some fine results. Things started off very well when Rudy Schreiber and John Owens pulled off an upset by beating a very talented Greenwich pair. Graham Barnes, who now lives on the West coast, flew in to join us for the regatta and helped us to a win over Riverfront Recapture in the Men’s Masters 4+. The women were edged by Maritime in the Masters 4x but pulled off a victory in the Open 4x division, beating CRI. And Sean Wolf took first place in the Open 1x.
The regatta ended on a high note for Riverside. In the Mixed Masters 4x, the Riverside boat had the same handicap as Maritime. We were neck-and-neck down the whole course and just edged out Maritime by 9/10 of a second to win. In the next event, the Mixed Masters 8+ cruised to first place over three other entries. So in the space of four minutes, we collected 13 medals.
As always, much of the credit goes to our excellent coxswains Lyssa Bayne, Hannah Couture and Dan Snook, who was lured from CRI to join us.
