1989-90UNH Freshman Crew

I decided it was time to add and discuss the 5th "R" of my blog - Rowing. I haven't rowed in about 25 years but it was a huge part of my life at UNH for my freshman and sophomore years. Even though it was certainly my biggest sporting accomplishments and rowing in my fresh 8-man boat was probably one of the highs of my life, it has drifted into foggy memory as the years have passed. So why bring it up and write about it now when I'm 45? Well, it's because I just read a wonderful book called The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. It is about Joe Rantz, his life, his years rowing at the University of Washington, and pursuit of the gold medal at Adolf Hitler's 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It was a fantastic story and I'm so glad it was told. In addition, for me, it brought back so many memories of trying to row freshman year, ergometers, seat races, blisters on hands, double workouts in the winter, rowing through ice, ice sickles on my beard, defeat, and victory. Although I certainly wasn't at their level, I know what those boys went through and I cried when it was over as I was reading the epilogue. Then I decided I needed to write down my little story and preserve it for me and my kids.

In the fall season we did head races. I think those were 3 miles long and we probably on did one or two. I remember we did one at Dartmouth but I don't recall to much about it. As freshman we were focused on learning the technique of rowing and getting in shape. I think there was only 2 guys who had any previous rowing experience and I wasn't one of them. Early in the process we picked sides to row on and I became a starboard rower. We hit the water nice and early so that we were back off the water (Oyster river) and had time to run back to campus before 8 am classes. Getting up that early every day of the week in college was no easy task but your boat didn't appreciate it too much if you didn't show and thus they were short a man.

In the winter, once the river froze, we did lots of land training which included running, weights, stairs, and ergometers (rowing machines). I thought ergometers were pure hell back then. We would sometimes workout twice a day in winter and during spring break we went down to Tampa Bay FL to row in warmer weather twice a day.

By spring the boats were set and I was in the first freshman it. Starting from the bow of the boat (1 seat), it consisted of: Eric Burroughs ("Bucko"), Derek Whipple, Dewitt Newton ("Dewar"), Matt Collins, Luke Ramsey, Graham Duncan, Alex Hoffmaster, John Harris, and Kristina Louise Delaney (coxswain). I didn't know any of them before we met our freshman year at crew. But I spent more time with them than anyone else that year and we had so much fun. We went through a lot together.

The spring season is the major racing season. The races are 2,000 m sprints. I found an old schedule that says we raced the following:
April 7 Dartmouth
April 14 Tufts and Weslyan at Boston
April 21 Temple
April 28 Phillips Exeter Academy
April 29 Harvard
May 5 New England Championships
May 11,12 Dad Vail Regatta (considered at the time our div II national)

I honestly don't remember the Dartmouth or Temple races but it looks like we came in 2nd to temple down in Philly. I certainly remember the race in Boston. It was cold with really rough water (maybe some rain as well). Our coach, Sean O'Connell, really wanted to win. He had major competitive issues or some sort of grudge with the Tufts coach I think. It didn't' go well. We were generally not a good rough water crew, which may have gotten in our heads. By the time the race started I was freezing and could barely feel my hands. I caught a "crab" at some point in the race which certainly didn't help our cause. We came in 2nd to Tufts.

The Harvard race was a highlight. Our coach talked to theirs so that they would bring a freshman crew with an equivalent amount of talent to our boat to race us (with only a couple rowers with prior experience). I think it was their 3rd freshman eight but I can't be sure. We won the race and I have a Harvard crew shirt (losers give you their shirts in crew) to show for it. I was glowing the rest the day.

Clip from our University paper on our Harvard race.

New England Championships
 
We were starting to peak at just the right time heading into the New England Championships and then down to Dad Vail for the nationals. Then there was a minor hiccup. Sometime after the Harvard race I broke my foot playing intramural basketball. I went to the UNH clinic where they took an X-ray and confirmed it was broken. The doctor was about to start having a cast put on my foot and lower leg but I knew I wouldn't be able to row like that and I just couldn't stop now. I asked the doctor if I absolutely needed the cast and if it would be okay to row. I explained my whole situation and he agreed that if I used crutches and didn't walk on it, that it would be ok to row since rowing was more of a pushing motion. Coach sure was relieved. Changing the chemistry of the boat right before all the championships would not be good.

The New England Championships were raced on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester MA. There was no docks. You just waded out into the water, set your boat down, and then got in. Except for me of course :) Because of my broken foot I had 2 teammates carry me and set me in the boat. I'm sure someone has a picture of that but I don't. It was quite a sight and I heard lots of other crews talking about it later and wondering what was going on. There were 18 schools in the freshman (novice) competition including Tufts and Coast Guard. We really wanted to show Tufts and everyone else that we were a much better crew then we showed earlier in the season. The water was calm so there would be no excuses this time. We won our heat and had the fastest heat time of any boat. In the finals we raced to victory over Connecticut College, UMass, URI, Coast Guard and Tufts! Victory could not be much sweeter. We got a lot of crew jerseys from our competitors that day!



Getting in our boat for the race. I'm in the 7 seat.

Gold medals and championship trophy!

Article on our victory in the university newspaper

Dad Vail Regatta (Div II National Championships)

The Dad Vail Regatta was out national championship race which is held in Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River. The river banks were loaded with racing shells. It was an amazing site to see all the different schools and boats there to race. I'm not sure how many boats were entered in the novice 8 category but I believe we had to race in 2 heats prior to the final heat. I think only the top 2 boats advanced from each heat. Unlike the New Englands, we didn't dominate our heats and I believe we struggled to get the 2nd spot each time. I believe we struggled in both of those heats because of rough water but we gutted through it. The water was calmer in the finals and we were ready to go for it. We raced a solid race and gave it our best but ending up losing to our nemesis, Temple University. We know we gave it our all and so I don't think anyone was disappointed with our effort or the Silver medal. It as amazing. My family came down to watch as well which was really cool. Karl was there taking pictures (most of these) along with my mom and Brad. I don't recall if Crae was there or not. I'll have to ask him about that.

Me with mom and Brad between races

Racing - probably in one of the heats

More race action!

Rowing up to get our medals

Karl (Poppy) was on the dock or close by taking these pictures

Rowing away with our medals

Carrying the boat back to shore

My freshman year at UNH was amazing. I enjoyed my classes, declared my major in microbiology, and made some great friends in my dorm. But crew and my freshman boat affected my in ways that can't easily be described. The dedication, teamwork, depending on others, time management, pushing through the pain, the camaraderie, the fun...the lessons were endless.