Sunday Oct. 2, 2005
DePere, WI
The MTU Rowing Club kicked off "Rocktober" today with a great start at the annual Tail of the Fox regatta on the Fox River in DePere, WI. The club took home medals in all 6 events they participated in including Gold medals for the men's openweight 1x, men's lightweight 4+, women's novice 4+ and women's novice 8+ and Silver medals for the men?s novice 4+ and men's novice 8+.
The day was filled
with anticipation and disappointment, but ultimately success. In head
racing, crews in each event start in 10 to 15 second intervals. Often a
crew will start behind and in front of other boats. By chasing down the
leading boats and pulling a way from others, crews jockey for position and
for the best time on the course. Because of the staggered start, crews
often don't know how they finished until well after the race. The novice
women's 8+ thought they had finished in second place until coach Smythe
called them over for a meeting. The rest of the MTU Rowing Club watched on
as the 8 girls, their coxswain and the coach huddled for a meeting. After a
lot of screaming, jumping, and hugging, the team learned that the women had
actually won their race by over 15 seconds.
The times were surprising, to say the least. The men's lightweight 4+ had a
time over 40 seconds faster than the nearest lightweight 4+, and 9 seconds
faster than the fastest heavyweight 4+. One of the rowers from the MLW4+,
Tim Wong, had already won a singles (1x) race that morning with a time over
1:01 faster than the nearest single sculler. The margins for the novice
men's and women's crews were smaller, but still very impressive. "Our
women's crews had leads of up to 15 seconds, which translates to 2 or 3 boat
lengths," explains coach Terry Smythe. Wong, the men's captain adds, "This
is a sport where photo-finishes are common, so when you finish with open
water between the boats, you know you're in good shape."
"This is the best showing our club has ever had at a regatta," Smythe said
after all the results were in. "I haven't had a crew this dedicated,
excited and successful since I started the club 14 years ago."
"As surprised as I am at the results, I think they speak of the hard work we
have each put in. The sport is truly about dedication," explains Wong. He
would know. He drove to Minneapolis the day before to row the men's
lightweight single event in the Head of the Mississippi, and then drove to
De Pere to join his team. "When you think about it, if a single person is
late or misses a 5:30 AM practice, you now have 7 rowers that can't row and
an even angrier coxswain. You just don't make excuses in this sport."
The race was a first for the club's newest boat, a 2002 Vespoli Ultralite
8+. The boat was purchased with a generous gift by a currently unnamed
donor, and partially paid with support from USG through the Student Activity
Fee. The entire club was extremely excited for the new boat, which
replaces two aging and damaged 8+'s, and made good use of it on Sunday
winning Gold and Silver medals for the crews that raced it.
Athletes in the MTU Rowing Club Proudly dispay the first
hardware of the season.
Photo by Tim Wong
"Our club really wouldn't exist without the generosity of those in the community and University," Wong mentions. "Right now our main goal is to show those who have supported us just how much we can accomplish. Rocktober is an opportunity for our club to take something that is fun for all of us to the next level." It started with the LW4+ setting a goal to win their race in Elkhart, Indiana. Last year at Elkart, the LW4+ finished 5th in a field of over 30 boats behind Mercyhurst, Northwestern and Michigan State boats. Now, the entire team has embraced Rocktober. "It's really just 4 weeks of total dedication to our training. That might be the norm for our school's division sports teams, but it's something new for us as a club. It's hard to add training hours when we're already responsible for maintaining the equipment, ordering uniforms, organizing travel and fundraising. Based on our results today, I'm looking forward to the next 4 weeks."
In addition to the "Copperhead" scrimmage with NMU that took place during the Parade of Nations, the rowing club will also compete in Lansing, MI and finally Elkart, IN.
Terry Smythe can be reached at
tsmythe@chartermi.net
Tim Wong can be reached at
tlwong@mtu.edu