On April 7th, a bright, sunny Sunday, Riverside Boat Club came out for a peaceful morning of boat dedications and some inter-club scrimmaging, a yearly event known as the Crusher Casey. The event signifies the beginning of the racing season for the club, and serves as a yearly boat dedication ceremony where we dedicate, or in this case re-dedicate, some of the shells in our fleet for outstanding members of our community. The morning began with President Lynn Osborn speaking about the significance of the four-person boat, “1936 Olympics”, which we dedicated to the 1936 Olympic coxed four team, with whom our celebrated Bob Cutler rowed and raced. Following this, former President Mike Farry spoke kindly about Kevin McDonnell, one of the first coaches of the high performance group at Riverside, and the man who orchestrates the Head(s) of the Kevin every fall. The pair named for Kevin McDonnell was then re-dedicated.
After the pleasantries of the boat dedication, the crews were set to race. The open men’s and women’s sweep teams faced off against the master’s men’s and women’s sweep teams in the mixed 8+s race, and a number of singles raced as well. The course ran from the upstream end of the Riverside dock to the Newell boathouse, where the crews then took a 180 degree stake turn and returned back to the club. Following the racing, the competitors and spectators alike adjourned to the breakfast spread of pastries, fruit and bagels. The herculean organizational effort was put on by Alex Barat of the men’s sweep team.
Picture Credits: Mike Floyd
