Continue reading »]]> Turkey Lake, Orlando Fl- The Gainesville Area Rowing Novice rowers came away with great results from the Novice Regatta on Saturday February 13, held annually to allow all new rowers across the state a chance to compete in their own 1 day regatta.   20 teams were in attendance with over 150 entries ranging from the 1x up to novice & freshman 8s.

On the women’s side, the ladies brought home a gold in the 2x, silver in the 1x, 4x and novice 4, and bronze in the novice 8 and 1x.

The men had a good showing as well, bringing home a silver in the freshman 4+, a Championship level event,  and coming in a hard fought 4th in the novice 4+.

Also in attendance was GAR’s middle school sculling program, racing against the high schoolers in the men’s and women’s 1x and the men’s 2x.  The middle schoolers also raced a mixed boy’s & girl’s 8+ against several other middle school programs.

The novices will see competition again on March 13 at the OARS Regatta back on Turkey Lake in Orlando.

Lineups

Continue reading »]]> Canal 54, Fellsmere Fl – The Gainesville Area Rowing varsity squads had a strong showing at the 3rd annual Opening Day Regatta on Saturday February 20, their first race of the spring season.  Conditions were ideal for the Henley style head-to-head racing, which pits 2 crews against each other over a 1,500 meter course with the winner advancing to race again in semi finals and ultimately a grand final to determine the winner of each event.

On the men’s side the Varsity 8 claimed silver in the grand final, coming in 2nd  against Belen Jesuit of Miami in a hard-fought race.  After losing a tough race in the opening round, the men’s 2nd Varsity 8 reversed their fortunes by winning their consolation race against Boone High School of Orlando.  In the 3rd Varsity 8 GAR advanced to the semi final before being out-stroked down the course by Lake Brantley Rowing Association of Orlando.

Women’s racing saw the Varsity 8 reclaim the Women’s V8 Opening Day Trophy for the 2nd year in a row in a close race against Lake Brantley that came down to the last 100 meters.  The women’s 2nd Varsity 8 also made it to the finals which saw GAR in another showdown with Lake Brantley.  In a back and forth dogfight down the course that saw both crews fighting for the lead, GAR came up  short, taking a silver medal with 2nd place overall.

Both men’s Head Coach Michael Moseley and women’s Head Coach Justin Burgess saw the racing as a good starting point for each squad to build on and develop from through the rest of the spring season.  Varsity rowers are back in action on Saturday, March 13 at the OARS Regatta on Turkey Lake in Orlando.

Continue reading »]]> 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!

Continue reading »]]> GAR’s presence was felt at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston today. This morning new GAR Master Andy Hogshead, in the Harvard Alumni Mens 8+, rowed to a 6th place finish in a field of 34 boats. Their raw time was 16:47.586, a mere 11 seconds from medaling. Way to row, Andy! Full results for this event can be found here: http://www.hocr-timing.org/results/19213.htm

This afternoon, in the Director’s Challenge Mixed Double, Jen Figueroa and Bill Griffith were the fastest on the water by more than a minute in the 22 boat event. They rowed the course in an unofficial time 18:54.679. After handicaps were applied their great row gave them a third place finish. Full results for their event can be found here: http://www.hocr-timing.org/results/14435.htm

Also, congratulations to GAR Alumi David Fette. David Fette is a 2009 Alumni Rower of GAR. David is currently attending Boston University and rowing with their college crew team. David and his crew raced against 46 other club boats and their boat came in 4th! Full results for this race can be found here: http://www.hocr-timing.org/results/14393.htm

Congratulations to Jen, Andy and David!