In celebration of the 10+ year anniversary, GAR is hosting a REUNION ROW & PARTY!!
(Please note we have consolidated the day into one event at the boathouse!)
Come out for the first annual GAR ALUMNI ROW / HOMECOMING at the boathouse.
Saturday, January 2
10 am to 12:30pm – Row on Newnans
12:30 to 3+ pm – Festivities & Lunch at the Famous GAR Grille
Boat lineups will be set by coaches – be there at 10 if you wish to row.
All GAR rowers and coaches welcome!
RSVP to row – In order for coaches to make lineups and have launches ready, they need to know if you’ll be there.
RSVP for lunch – We would appreciate knowing if you and your family will be there for lunch!
(We are suggesting a $5 lunch donation per person, to cover GAR expenses. Pay at the GAR Grille.)
RSVP here by December 20th
(Please note: Previous plans to hold two separate events have been changed, and the Reunion & Party are consolidated into one event at the boathouse at Newnan’s Lake. See you there!)
We look forward to seeing you on January 2nd!
Gainesville Area Rowing had a very successful weekend at The Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee!
We had at least eighteen entries over the weekend and our Youth Rowers and our Master Rowers made GAR very proud. The weather was excellent, and the community very welcoming and accommodating to all who attended, what ended up being a record attendance at The Hooch!
Our Youth Rowers placed First (Gold) in the Mixed Youth 8+ race! Our Masters placed First (Gold) in the Mixed Open 2X. Jen Figueroa, our Sculling Coach and Master Rower, received a Silver Medal in the Women’s Master 1X race and was only 3/10′s of one second from Gold! With some races having almost 50 entries (competitors) our Youth were within 30 seconds or less off of the first place time in some races. Great job!
With continued training, I am looking forward to a very successful end to the Head Racing season this Fall and an even more successful Sprint Season in the Spring! Coaches, thank you all for your dedication to this club and to our youth and their success!
And, well, we had quite an exciting trip home yesterday – one of our buses broke down and we had to combine two buses into one bus for a six hour ride home. I want to thank everyone for their understanding, cooperation, and their excellent sense of humor during this “crunch” in getting all of us home safely and not very late, considering the circumstances. Our “Novice” parents learned what it means to be GAR family – everyone was such a good sport about this and we got to know each other very well!
I want to thank everyone for all of their help this weekend setting up and taking down, serving at the food tent and dinners, and chaperoning the rowers and the halls on both nights. Thanks to Mike Driscoll for driving the food trailer up to Chattanooga and Nina and Tom Cornwell for organizing the food tent for the weekend. This is truly a team effort so thank you again, all of you, for your help with anything that was needed!
Ten GAR Masters and a couple of our friends took on the 5,000 meter course on the Tennessee River and lots of tough competition at the Head of the Hooch November 7th and 8th in Chattanooga, TN. The Hooch is the second largest race in the country and this year over 1,700 boats were entered.
Aside from an early morning nip to the air, the weather was great for racing and the venue was, as usual, beautiful. The area has been receiving heavy rainfall and the river was running very fast this year. The TVA did an excellent job of regulating flow so the event could be held but the current did present some challenges. Race officials did an exceptional job of keeping the events very close to the schedule while making allowances for the water conditions.
As a club, GAR Masters finished in a tie for 16th place out of 44 clubs entered.
Here’s how the nine GAR boats did:
Men’s Master 4X – 9th
Mixed Open 2X – Gold Medal
Mixed Master 2X – 21st
Women’s Championship 2X – 9th
Women’s Master 2X – 15th
Mixed Master 4X – 11th
Women’s AA-A-B 1x – Silver Medal and 13th
Mixed Master 8+ – 17th
Special congratulations are in order for Jen Figueroa. In the Mixed Open 2X she and Bill Griffith rowed to a gold medal. In the Womens’ Masters AA-A-B 1X, after having to return to the dock to replace her failed boat seat, followed by a draining row to get the to start line in time, Jen was still fastest on the water and, after handicap, finished second by a mere 3/10 of a second.
Also, congratulations to Coach Justin who rowed to a silver medal in the Men’s Master 8+.
It was a good year for GAR Masters at the Hooch. The team truly demonstrated the progress we have made over the last year. Next year everyone can expect more and faster boats from Gainesville. Something to look forward to!
Rowers and Parents,
As our head racing season comes to a close and we begin to prepare for sprint racing, we want to provide information for both our athletes and their parents on sports nutrition. Sports nutrition is more than simply eating healthy. Athletes need to eat more calories than non-athletes and they need to focus on what kinds of food will power their bodies through competitions.
Most young athletes do not eat enough calories to make up for how much they burn in practice, so their bodies cannot properly recover from training. In the past we have had athletes get sick from not eating properly and we want to prevent such occurrences in our spring season. We also want to make sure that we are performing to our maximum potential. Young athletes who do not fuel their bodies properly are more prone to injury, less energetic, and less productive in school and athletics. Learning how to eat properly will help keep our athletes healthy and give us a competitive edge.
Jen Figueroa, our middle school sculling coach and Anatomy and Physiology teacher at Buchholz, will be giving the talk. Jen has been rowing for 15 years and she has a degree in Sports Medicine/Athletic Training from University of Charleston, and a masters in Motor Control and Kinesiology. She will be focusing the discussion on what types of food rowers need, and the best way to get the proper amount of nutrients. She will also take any questions that you may have after her discussion.
The sports nutrition talk will take place on Monday, November 23 at 5:30, in the pavilion at Newnan Lake. Practice will end a little bit early for the talk and attendance for athletes is mandatory. Parents are highly encouraged to attend. Eating properly is much easier when parents also understand what their athletes need and can support them in making good decisions. Again, most lapses in nutrition for high school athletes come not from them eating too much junk food but from them not understanding how, when, and what to eat to allow their bodies to cope with training and grow stronger.
We hope to see you all out at the lake on November 23!
Reunite with your friends, fellow rowers, coaches and parent volunteers who had so much to do with making this organization a success! The first-ever GAR Homecoming & Alumni Reunion is now on for January 2, 2010. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! PLEASE PASS THE WORD TO ALL GAR ROWERS & COACHES!
Visit friends at the boathouse, buy a tee shirt, or sign up to row at Homecoming at the Newnans’ Lake boathouse on Saturday, Jan 2!
Join fellow Alum and parents for the GAR Alumni Reunion evening mixer at Ti Amo Restaurant, downtown Gainesville, from 4:30 to 7 on January 2. Reservation required: http://gainesvillearearowing.com/2009/11/18/gar-1st-annual-homecoming-and-alumni-reunion-party/
For more information, to have your contact info added to the list, or to offer any help, please contact Anne Gilroy at: aegilroy@windstream.net. Put GAR REUNION in the subject box.
