US Rowing Master's Nationals Oak Ridge

[TabbRows]

Anyone in this forum going to be there?

Happy Hour Ergathon on the deck of the Flatwater Grill? Just kidding.

[becz]

I'll be there. I'm competing in 6 events, various A/B/C 4+'s and 8+'s. I should be pretty well chuffed by Sunday.

[TabbRows]

You're an animal becz!

I'm almost as bad, doing 1 event per day, except Sunday when we're doing the Club B 8+ early and the E-J 8+ late because it's a final event, only 4 boats and I think that's pushing it. Primary events are the Club D4+ on Friday and the Club E-J8+ on Sunday. All the others are fill ins and work arounds to accommodate loss of crew to injures.

What club are you with?

Tallahassee Rowing, here.

[becz]

I'm sure I'll feel like roadkill by the end of the day on Sunday

I row with a club in Hartford Connecticut called Riverfront Rowing. I think we also have a boat in the E-J 8+, and the club B 8+ is one of the events I'm in. I'll keep an eye out for you. I'm in 7 seat.

[TabbRows]

I'm bow for the B8+. 4seat for the E-J boat. We're black hull M2, "Belle". But depending upon which trailer we use, may be in a Kashper Sectional, you can faintly see "Nebraska" across the hull, as we bought it from UofN a couple of years ago.

Buy you a beer before the start and watch you drink it . Just kidding. Maybe a cup a joe at the Daily Grind up on Oak Ridge Parkway.

My first time OTW was on the Conn River out of Springfield. Frat bro was on crew at AIC and took a couple of us out once. Too many years back to think about and took me a long while to get back OTW.

See you in a week.

[TabbRows]

To Everyone competing in the Masters National Championships:

What a great event! Strong rowing by all even in the heat!

Wonderful venue for rowing and viewing. If only the weather had been 15 degrees cooler

Photo finishes! Fabulous times. Amazed by the rating those 70 year olds can maintain .

My oar's up to all!

[Rockin Roland]

Tell us a bit about the event.

What sort of numbers of entries did you have for the US Masters?
Is it mainly C, D & E which draws most of the entries or is it pretty even?

What was the most popular event (for example at the Aust masters champs there were 43 entries for MC2X ) ?

Where there many past Olympians racing?

[TabbRows]

I was mostly focused on my races. I've just got a spreadsheet that has all the results, so maybe I can post a few highlights soon. Anyone else who rowed there and has information handy is welcomed to jump in.

[becz]

You can get all of the entries and results from Masters Nationals at http://www.racetrak.com/regatta.asp?CurrRegattaID=190. I think the doubles were probably the largest event here as well, although entries were probably in the twenties rather than the forties. There were events ranging from AA through J, some with several heats, some with finals only and just two or three entrants. In general I'd say B, C and D probably had the most entries overall. Each competitor was limited to 6 events.

The course in Oak Ridge is fantastic. Very nicely laid out, easy to get on and off the docks, plenty of room heading up to the start. As luck would have it, Oak Ridge was having their hottest summer in 20 years with heat index numbers around 105 degrees F on some days.

There were plenty of former US national team rowers competing, though I'm not sure how many are former Olympians. I had a chance to chat with a fellow in my hotel who rowed at Yale in the late 40's and was a spare on the '52 US Olympic team. He had lots of interesting stories to tell (and was still competing).

All in all it was a lot of fun. I was fortunate to be rowing with a great bunch of guys and finished with 2 gold, 3 silver and a bronze, so it made baking in the sun for 4 days that much more bearable.