Liz Martin on her journey to the World Championships. Building her team for the LW4x.
Another successful year for Riverside at the 53rd Head Of The Charles Regatta! For the third consecutive year, Riverside took home the points trophy as well as racked up dozens of great results in all boat classes. Congratulations to all who completed, as well as Riverside members who raced with other teams this year!
The Green Mountain Head was raced on a beautiful Vermont day, there were a lot of RBC rowers and many of them did well. Pictured below are some of the Riverside rowers with their prizes of apples, cider and maple syrup!
Singles:
Lib and Pete, enjoying the regatta.
Doubles:
Riverside Stripes will be wearing Stars and Stripes at Worlds, and we would like to celebrate Judith Vogel, Tom Keister and Liane Malcos Keister for their dedication and expertise in launching these extraordinary athletes from Riverside’s humble boat club on the Charles.
Many thanks, members and friends, whose sustained programmatic support is critical to this effort and accomplishment. We are immensely proud of our extended Riverside family and wish them good luck and good racing. Go Stripes!
Men's Lightweight 4x, September 2017
There are 19 current and former athletes and coaches who will be at Worlds.
National Team (Riverside alumni):
National Team (Riverside athletes):
National Team Coaches and Staff:
View of the race course in Oak Ridge, TN.
Masters 8+s.
The US Masters Nationals was held August 17-20 on a beautiful cool river in Oak Ridge, TN. The water temperature was about the only thing that was cool as the heat steamed up during the day, but cool breezes and plenty of shade made the whole experience a delight as all the teams rented spaces for tents on shore to watch the racing. The weather and conditions were pretty much perfect though the sun was really intense as the rowers sat out in the boats waiting for the start of races. Three mornings there was an hour long fog delay but the organization by US Rowing was excellent as 99 teams with over 3000 rowers participated. Chinook again won the points trophy with almost twice as many points than second place, Texas Rowing Center. Only three members from RBC attended: Sean Wolf, Nikolay Kurmakov and Catherine Widgery.
Catherine Widgery racks in the medals.
Catherine again competed as part of a composite team of masters women from around the country and earned three golds: WF2X, WG4+ and WE8+ and three silvers: WF4X, WD8+, WF8+.
Masters Nationals moves to Oakland, CA next year.
After a second consecutive win in the Club 8 event at HOCR, and a 5th place overall finish when including the college 2v/3v’s also entered the event, Riverside’s men’s sweeps program decided to up the ante and undertake a campaign to compete at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta. Rumblings of a trip started at the tail end of summer 2016, where the sweeps team put together a strong senior 8+ of year-round guys, who had helped step up the training and competition level that the sweeps team did not usually have in recent years. This was the right time—the guys, attitude, and enthusiasm was there to start something that would hopefully spotlight RBC on the international club stage.
The group met with Jeff in November and decided to take an 8 and a 4, a group of 12 rowers and two coxswains that would be named in early April, with lineups set by May. While winter training for the men’s team has predominantly been self-directed off-season training in the past, Henley training was much more rigorous. Thanks to the trainer-in- chief Jon Dwyer, the group created a training plan that would give the team focus and direction over the long 8- month process. Although everyone in the group had a full-time careers or were full-time grad students, the team trained eight or more times a week, and did pieces as a group, all while balancing work, life, and the occasional Phoenix nightclub cross-training sessions.
The squad had multiple “check-ins” throughout the winter which included a watts/kilogram 30’ test, three 6k’s, a trip to C.R.A.S.H.-B’s, and a final 2k to round out the winter. About half the team set life time PR’s on the machine, while others came close to, or tied their college scores.
As soon as the ice melted in February, men’s sweeps took up oars. We had only 3 coached practices a week while Jeff finished up his coaching priorities at MIT for the spring, so most of the days were spent on our own. Until lineups were set, un-coached practices were done in singles and pairs, while coached practices consisted of mixed lineups and pieces in three 4’s. After lots of different combinations, some selection, several subs filling in, hustling to borrow some Hudson shells that would match the ones we would row in England, lineups were finalized as follows:
Thames Challenge 8+
C. Sarah Ivey
8. Charles Wu
7. Brad Sherman
6. Alex Brown
5. James Leech
4. Callen Brooks
3. Jon Dwyer
2. Xavier Morelle
1. Graeme Calloway
Britannia Challenge 4+
C. Giuliana Vetrano
4. Evan Meisler
3. Gijs Hoogerwerf
2. Alex Barat
1. James Primes
Both the Thames Cup and the Britannia Cup are events designed solely for Club Crews, or only for members that have been formally members of the club for at least 3 months prior to the submission of entries. This is meant for guys like on men’s sweeps, who are rowing competitively post college, without necessarily having national team aspirations, and to prevent clubs from pulling in either summer guys or ringers to bolster their entry. Since most of the competition we face during the summer in club racing is against college kids who have come off competitive training environments with full-time coaching and resources, we wanted to have an apples-to- apples test of ourselves against true competitive club crews, which were mostly found abroad.
Once lineups were finalized, the crew looked for some races to test ourselves against. While the UK club system is very developed, with several spring regattas and opportunities to formally race against college teams (such as the Marlow Regatta), the Stripes knew we needed to have some tune-up racing to experience the pressures of a race situation. Unfortunately, there is minimal club racing prior to the start of the summer, and any summer competition would be far too late for us before we headed across the pond.
Thus, the team got creative began seeking out other U.S. crews going to Henley to scrimmage with. Fortunately, crews from WPI, Williams, and Harvard were willing to entertain these old men in some friendly competition over the course of the final month, which proved incredibly valuable for all parties involved. Satisfied with the training, and with the boat feeling good, the team flew out on June 20th to fit in the better part of the week training on the course. While the 8 was pre-qualified into the 32-crew tournament for the Thames Challenge Cup, the four was required to race on Friday of that week to earn a spot at the regatta into a smaller 16- boat event. On Friday morning, they laid down an excellent time trial, finishing in the top three which not only qualified them for the regatta, but also earned them the right to race as a “selected crew” alongside of the eight (selection is a type of seeding, in which selected crews, based on their qualifications and or race results, are set up so these potentially top crews avoid racing each other in the early rounds). With qualification under their belt, the stripes made for Reading Regatta on Sunday where both boats got in morning and afternoon races against other crews competing at HRR. In the afternoon, the 8 won the Elite 8 by open water over WPI and Winchester College, and got some shiny hardware in the form of pewter mugs, a staple prize for many UK regattas.
After several days of practice, waiting, with nerves and anticipation building, Wednesday finally arrived and race day was here. The Thames Challenge 8 raced at 4:05 pm against the Tideway Scullers, which was one of the more competitive boats in the event. We were confident that we could win, if we maintained focus and were able to listen to the coxswain’s calls and execute our race plan. No miracles needed.
No miracles needed, but unfortunately quite the opposite happened. The boat got off a clean start, clipping along their high strokes at a 47. As the Tideway and Riverside came to the end of the island neck and neck, Sarah called the shift from a 47 down ten beats to the boat’s base pace of 37. At this point the cox box and microphone died and while stroke seat, and the coxswain attempted to remedy the problem, Tideway moved out a few seats. Once the entire crew realized the cox box was dead for good, they refocused on laying down the best base rate they could and reeling Tideway back in in silence. Without the guiding voice of the coxswain calling moves, rate, distance progressed, and margins, the crew tried to keep their cool, although the sense of unease and tension increased as the race progressed without us able to muster some collective traction to poke our bow-ball ahead. All eight rowers were able to gather briefly for their planned move at the Fawley marker, which closed the gap to only a couple of seats, but once the two boats moved into the enclosure area (where the crowds, music, and myriad distractions awaited), Tideway was able to execute a very good sprint sequence, which the Riverside boat could not match without a coxswain. Tideway finished ¾ of a length up, and Riverside’s 8 crossed the line feeling rather shell-shocked. Tideway rowed a very good race, and were faster on the day. They proved to be an extremely strong crew, who won on Thursday as well and were a canvas from progressing to the Semi-Final on Friday.
There’s little room for error or protest in this sport and virtually none at Henley. While it was a tough pill to swallow, it reinforced for the 8 how important the process had been, and what a huge undertaking the entire trip had been. The bitterness everyone felt only revealed how much everyone one in the boat had invested in the project. And so, with a healthy sampling of local libations and a few stern warnings from the Catherine Wheel “not to return to this establishment” (we returned though…) the eight went to bed with high hopes for the Britannia 4’s race in the morning. And they did not disappoint.
Riverside’s 4+ drew Stratford-Upon- Avon in the first round. Since Riverside had already raced a qualifying event, should they win, they would go right to quarter-finals, or top 8 crews. Known for delivering high drama since 1564, Stratford-Upon-Avon did not disappoint in the first round of the Britannia Challenge Cup. The race was a nail biter and even got a special mention from Sir Matthew Pinsent. The British crew moved up a full length on the stripes right off the start. After establishing a commanding lead, Riverside was able to stop their momentum, and then over the course of the next thousand meters, reel the Brits back in until they managed to put their bow ball just ahead. The second half of the race was a stroke for stroke slug fest all the way down to the enclosures at which point, just as they crossed the line, Stratford Upon Avon was able to put their boat ahead by “a canvas,” which is literally a couple of feet at best. While the team was gutted, no one—neither rower nor hungover supporting teammate—could have asked for a better, or a gutsier race.
Racing done, the team got down to business. Hot tubbing, a trip to Oxford, fish and chips, a few pitchers of Pimm’s and a couple bottles of champagne all had to be attended to. Our sister boat club, Potomac Boat Club, was even there with us in spirit as they transferred us the funds for a few rounds of Pimm’s on them. Sunday afternoon saw all the stripes out in full force and dapperness, supporting the American teams and representing RBC with pride.
By Monday morning however, the entire team was ready to come home. Months of training, two weeks in England, countless emotions, and unknown quantities of Pimm’s had the Meatwagon yearning for the comfort of Boston and cool breezes on RBC’s porch. While it was far from the Henley trip the men’s sweeps team had dreamed of, it was a hugely valuable experience and speaks volumes about how far the team has come, and how far it intends to go. While Riverside has only made a few trips to England to race in recent history, don’t be surprised if you see another men’s sweeps boat storming down the booms in the near future.
And finally, the Meatwagon would like to thank the entire club for all the love and support as always. We couldn’t do it without your seemingly endless tolerance for our nonsense. Look out HOCR2k17.
Xoxo,
The Meatwagon
By: Hillary Saeger & Erin Roberts
For the past few weeks, we have been been able to get in some good pieces and solid rows at the Bypass Canal. While we loved rowing out of the Steward's Foundation on the Hillsborough River, we just couldn't turn down the opportunity to row on a buoyed course just down the road. Both the University of South Florida and Tampa Area Crew master's programs were super hospitable and accommodating, welcoming us into their boathouse to store our boats and allowing us to use their equipment.
We maximized our time on this body of water, which offered less boat traffic than we faced on the Hillsborough, in the early mornings and late afternoons as to avoid the hottest times of the day. Though it's only March, it's really beginning to heat up here in Tampa. It's much warmer & more humid than in Boston!
We are excited to be working towards a common goal and are eager to be picking up speed, but we have also found ways to relax and distract ourselves during the day in fun and unique ways.
Lauren & I built legos in our downtime.
Then on Friday night, March 11th, we got the awesome opportunity to go to the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game as they took on the Philadelphia Flyers at Amalie Arena. Hockey in Florida? Yes – and this was definitely hockey done right. The Lightning (4th in the Eastern Conference and 3rd in the Atlantic Division with 40 wins and 29 losses) are doing very well this season, and we got the VIP treatment as we watched them in action – all you can eat food and drinks in the Chase Lounge, a tour of the stadium with an up close view of the ice and trip to the press room, and a team appearance on the JumboTron where Molly Hamrick was interviewed. Unfortunately, Tampa Bay lost 3-1, but everyone still enjoyed a very chill, delicious chance to watch some coordinated athletics for a change and hangout with their teammates. Thanks to Stephan Athan (one of our host parents) for organizing the event and to the Tampa Bay Lightning for having us.
We're switching venues tomorrow, moving boats down to Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, where Trials will be held next month. We'll be commuting to Sarasota from Tampa for practice next week, then switching host families next weekend and living full-time in Sarasota!
By: Lisa Russell
Mike Farry took the plunge! Well done Riverside in meeting the fundraising goal of 150 donations, a fitting send off to show our support for the RBC athletes representing the USA at Worlds. For those who were unable to attend breakfast and witness President Farry’s jump check out the waterside recap:
Thank you to all who donated in support of our athletes! Best of luck in Amsterdam to the Men’s LM4x Jake Georgeson, Kyle Lafferty, Peter Schmidt and Andrew Neils and to Hillary Saeger! To follow their progress check out:
Any volunteers for next year’s swim?
By: Rachel Pettis
USRowing NE/Mid-Atlantic Masters Championships – Women’s 4x: Angelique Hrycko, Meghan Brundage, Erin Lallemand (MRRA) and Kit Casey.
After a rather drawn out extension of winter, otherwise known as spring, the summer season has finally arrived! Despite the slow return to the water, Riverside is already heating up the season with fast results. RBC opened the racing season at the NE/Midatlantic Masters Championships on Saturday, June 28th. The Masters Mens Sweeps finished 2nd in the 8, AA-C 4+, and F-J 4+. An RBC/MRRA composite 4x containing Angelique Hrycko, Kit Casey and Meghan Brundage left competitors in their wake as they cruised across the finish line in 1st by a lengthy margin. Paul Dale also took home a gold medal in the Mens Masters Ltwt E-J 1x, a silver in the Mens Masters E-F 1x and John Yasaitis grabbed silver in the Mens Masters G-J 1x.
The following Sunday at Festival Regatta RBC fared extremely well in both sweep and sculling events. Paul Dale and John Tracey both placed 2nd in the Mens Masters 1x as did Meghan Brundage in the Womens Masters 1x. Joe Hanna took home 1st in the Mens Open 1x and following his lead Men’s Sweeps placed 1st in both Open 4+ races. Mens Sweeps also placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Open 2- and then finished out the day with 1st and 2nd place in the Open 8.
A small contingent of RBC’s HPG competed at Elite Nationals on Lake Mercer, NJ. After a fierce showing in heats and reps two Womens 2xs narrowly missed making the grand final but left the course satisfied with their efforts and knowledge gained from various unexpected regatta snags throughout the week. On a lighter note Mary Foster’s RBC/Vesper composite in the Womens Lightweight 2x and 4x walked away with medals proving that keeping your enemies close does indeed have its rewards.
Mary Foster’s RBC/Vesper composite in the Womens Lightweight 2x and 4x walked away with medals proving that keeping your enemies close does indeed have its rewards.
Over the recent holiday weekend Riverside competed at Independence Day Regatta with temperatures and fast crews blazing the Schuylkill. In addition to the warm weather wind speeds were less than favorable ensuring that all boats had their work cut out for them. Representing the Master Women, Meghan Brundage competed in a composite mixed 2x placing 3rd and then later in a composite Womens Open 4x and Womens Intermediate 4x placing 1st and 3rd respectively. Nik Kurmakov raced Sunday in the Masters Mens 1x dash and though sporting a very swollen, slightly broken ankle cruised over the finish line with a win.
Riverside Men’s Lightweight 8+
Mens and Womens Sweeps each raced well taking on rival clubs such as Vesper and Penn AC. Saturday the women placed 3rd, 4th and 6th in the Open 4+ with Vesper coming in 2nd by a mere .8 seconds. The men finished 3rd in the Open 2-, 2nd in the Intermediate 4+, and finished off the day with gold in the Intermediate Lightweight 8. Sunday was another successful day for both teams as the women finished 4th and 5th in the Intermediate 4+ and 2nd in the Intermediate 8. The men finished 2nd in the Intermediate Lightweight 4+ and 5th in the Intermediate 8, Senior 8 and Intermediate 2-.
The HPG also entered several boats and on Saturday placed 2nd and 4th in the Women’s Intermediate 2x. Racing in an extremely competitive field Chloe Zwiacher finished 6th in the Women’s 1x and Erin Roberts won the Lightweight Women’s 1x several lengths ahead of the other boats. On Sunday Sarah Olenich started the day off nicely with a 2nd place finish in the Intermediate 1x. Later on in the Womens 4x a sharp crew of RBC ladies had the chance to race a Vesper crew containing RBC Alum Hillary Saegar and placed 3rd ahead of Ottawa.
At the end of the weekend all crews left the Schuylkill sun-kissed and tired but thrilled to have had the chance to rep their stripes in a pool of worthwhile competitors. No doubt about it that all teams look forward to seeing rival crews again in a few short weeks at Royal Canadian Henley. Train hard RBC!
By: Peter Schmidt
Lafferty, Georgeson, Schmidt, Neils
It was a momentous three days of racing at Senior Trials I for the men’s and women’s high performance group. Four Riverside entries competed over three events: the lightweight women’s and men’s single and the lightweight quad.
Racing began Monday morning with the lightweight single. First to race were Joan Buck and Laurissa Gulich. With the top two finishers progressing to the semifinals and the rest going to repechage in the afternoon, the pressure was on to only race once that day. Joan was first to race and placed second in her heat with 8:22.59, 7 seconds behind Nicole Dinion of OKC Riversports who won the heat with 8:15.81. Both progressed to the semifinals on Tuesday morning. Laurissa Gulich placed 3rd in Heat 2 requiring her to race again that afternoon in order to progress. She then won her rep with a time of 8:26.5 advancing her to the semifinal.
Tobin McGee was next to race in the men’s lightweight single. With the top finisher from each heat going to the final and the rest going to reps the following morning Tobin had his work cut out for him, especially having Andrew Campbell in his heat. Tobin finished 3rd with a time of 7:31.7, behind Peter Alter from Vesper and Andrew Campbell, who won the heat with a time of 7:03.6.
Tuesday was a tough day of racing for the Riverside lightweight singles. Laurissa and Joan were first to race and needed to place second or better in their semifinals in order to advance to the final. Unfortunately both were knocked out of the competition. Tobin was next to race that morning and faced the tougher task of winning his rep in order to gain a spot in the four-boat final the next morning. With a stiff crosswind on the course, Tobin jumped off the line and settled into a solid rhythm. Keeping his line straight down the course he set his sights on chasing down Colin Ethridge of Malta. Tobin took a move at the third 500 shortening the gap and began his sprint with 300 meters to go. Unfortunately Tobin ran out of race course and finished 2 seconds behind Colin. Both scullers are entered to race at Elite Nationals following the conclusion of Trials. Hopefully there will be a rematch in the near future.
On the final day of Trials the only boat left to race was the men’s lightweight quad (Kyle Lafferty, Jake Georgeson, Peter Schmidt, Bow: Andrew Neils). With USRowing altering the selection procedure and no race to determine lanes the previous Monday morning the quad needed to row only one piece to earn their seats on the national team. Despite several jittery rows in the days leading up to the final, when the quad shoved away from the dock all jitters and nerves were gone. All eyes were set on the goal in front of them. Even after receiving a warning for arriving late to the line the quad remained calm and when the race started any remaining nerves were instantly forgotten, replaced with that familiar burning sensation in the legs that only a 2k can produce.
Malta was quick off the line and held with the Riverside/GRP quad through the first 250 but RBC quickly jumped out to a length lead 500m into the race. At 750m in, RBC took their first move and broke open water on the Malta quad. Their lead continued as the race progressed and coming into the last 500, Riverside had over a length of open water. Victory was clear as Riverside crossed the line with a time of 6:08.68 seconds, 6 seconds ahead of the Malta quad. After talking as a boat for roughly 2 seconds, they agreed to declare their intent to go to Worlds and proceeded to the dock to weigh the boat, submit to a drug test and fill out the necessary paperwork
Their lead continued as the race progressed and coming into the last 500, Riverside had over a length of open water.
All in all it was a solid three days of racing for Riverside’s high performance group ending with great results and new resolve to continue pursuing that faster time.
By Ed Moran
Lauren Schmetterling was clear about her goals when she met with U.S. women’s national team coach, Tom Terhaar.
She told him she wanted to row on the national team and was intent on making it. She had the power and the desire, but Terhaar thought she wasn’t quite ready. She needed work on her technique.
So Terhaar’s suggestion was to move to Boston, join the Riverside Boat Club and start working with head coach Tom Keister. “I’ve made that suggestion to a number of women,” Terhaar said last week. “Tom’s been great for us. They are not afraid to do the work. They erg and they get fit and they get better. It’s a lot easier to fit a new athlete in when they are fit. And they get fit at Riverside.”
Schmetterling followed the advice and trained and developed at Riverside for 22 months, earning her an invitation to the Princeton Training Center in November 2012
For Schmetterling, who won a gold medal at last summer’s world championships in the eight, and a number of notable athletes who row for, or have rowed for, the U.S. women’s team, Riverside was a place that helped make their international careers possible.
Some of the athletes include Olympians Natalie Dell, and Meghan Musnicki, Emily Huelskamp, who won gold in the four last summer in South Korea and four-time national team lightweight Hillary Saeger, who has two world championship bronze medals and one silver rowing in the lightweight women’s quad.
Last week, Saeger was again in the lightweight women’s quad that won senior trials along with the RBC men’s lightweight quad of Andrew Neils, Peter Schmidt, Jacob Georgeson and Kyle Lafferty. They won their senior trials event and now all five RBC athletes will race at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in August.
In addition, Schmetterling, who won another gold medal in the eight at the recent World Cup II at Lake Aiguebelette in France, and Huelskamp are in the mix for the coming world championships.
Talk to any of the women on the U.S. squad who have rowed at RBC, and they will tell say without question that their time at RBC is a big reason they have gotten to where they are.
“Rowing there was absolutely amazing,” Schmetterling said. “Tom Keister will do anything to make sure his athletes succeed and he will take them as far as they want to go. He would stay out with me on the water in my single until he was sure that I was accomplishing what he wanted me to accomplish.”
Musnicki, who also won another international gold on Lake Aiguebelette, remembers her time at RBC as life changing.
“Training at Riverside taught me many different things,” Musnicki said. “For starters, it forced me to be more independent and reinforced the idea that you are responsible for yourself. Being a part of a club means that you have to make sure your boat gets to the race, you have to make sure your oars get to the race, and you have to know when your race is.”
She said that was not her experience rowing in college where she would get on a bus, be driven to the race, get off the bus and the equipment would “magically appear.” But she also said that while she had to develop an independent mindset, there was plenty of support at RBC.
“It’s like joining a huge family. If you need something or don’t know something, or want help with something, I knew all I had to do was send out a blast to the RBC list serve and within ten minutes my inbox would be flooded with responses.”
And, like Schmetterling, Musnicki credits the coaching she got at the club.
“As far as the coaching staff goes, I feel incredibly lucky to have trained under Tom Keister. Day in and day out he provided me with anything and everything I could need to attempt to advance my skills in small boats.
“I came to him pretty green in the small boat department so he definitely had his work cut out for him, but he kept at it and if it weren’t for him I definitely would not have gotten the invitation to go try out and train at the Princeton Training Center.
“He kicked my butt into shape, getting me physically ready for the training load at the center, and on top of that seemed undeterred in his attempts to round out some of the many rough edges I had in the single and double,” she said.
“There is no doubt in my mind that my journey to the national team began at RBC. I will forever be thankful for my time there and will always cherish my stripes!”
Proud to partner with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Magazine Beach Partners on the care of this riverside park.
