“What’s past is prologue”
William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1
I love Fall rowing. I love the optimism, anticipation, weather and fun the start of a new season always brings.
The cooler weather, the enthusiasm about future races and regattas, new rowers and teammates, and, for some, new coaches with new ideas about rowing, training, and boat lineups—it is the start of the “New Rowing Year” where we all want to have ‘the redo’s, lessons learned, and those new ideas about training, technique, and equipment. It’s the restart we look forward to all year long.
The race to the 2025 USRowing Youth National Championships has started. “Get Ready. Go!”
Clubs and programmes in The United States move toward The Spring 2025 Championship (venue pending) building on their 2024 success and “lessons learned” in sprint races (2k) and the 2024 USRowing Youth Championships, Sarasota FL. For some elite clubs, racing at Henley Royal Regatta 2024 provided international racing however no red boxes were awarded this year for US youth programs. A Henley Royal Regatta title remains the ultimate goal beyond a USA Youth Championship for the top clubs and programmes.
The Top Five Rowing Programs by overall medal count at USA Youth Championship, Sarasota FL 5/2024 would include;
RowAmerica Rye, Rye NY: 19 Total Medals
Maritime Rowing Club: 15 Total Medals
Greenwich Crew: 14 Total Medals
Sarasota: 14 Total Medals
Los Gatos: 14 Total Medals
Depth in the number of championship medals in multiple events measures overall club and programme strength. A Championship performance requires the four fundamentals: 1) Athletes, 2) Coaches, 3) Programme/Boats/Equipment, and 4) Culture (performance, technique). These five Championship programs excelled in all four fundamentals. They created programmes where execution and preparation are taught daily and where top performance follows. This is delayed gratification, but the reward is obtainable for some athletes and coaches.
“A regatta is a celebration of your preparation”
Coach Larry Gluckman (1936-2021) – Legendary US Coach and Mentor
Men’s and Women’s Youth Eights
The celebrations following the 2024 USRowing Youth Championships in Sarasota Florida were well deserved, and showed the years of preparation, coaching and training paying off on the water and on the podium.
RowAmerica Rye, Rye NY
Outstanding strength and performance demonstrated across multiple races and boat classes. Head Coach Marko Serafimovski, Coach Aleksandar Radovic and Coach Filip Topalovic continue to improve and develop champions in all boat classes. Both the men’s and women’s eights won gold medals. This was the best performance at the USRowing Youth Nationals for RowAmerica Rye since the club’s formation in 2013.
The men’s eight showed the strength, speed and strategy of Row America Rye, who won the race by 1.81 seconds over St. Joseph’s Preparatory, followed by Oakland Strokes, placing third by 5.54 seconds. The final strokes of this race demonstrated remarkable poise and effort by all three crews.
The women’s eight of RowAmerica Rye won the final by 1.5 seconds over Newport Aquatic and then Marin Rowing Association. Following championship podium placements, all three crews confirmed their invitation to the Henley Royal Regatta.
The men’s U16 eights saw the following championship order; RowAmerica Rye followed by Marin and PNRA/Mercer.
The women’s U16 eights championship order showed Marina Aquatic followed by Space Coast and RowAmerica Rye.
Men’s and Women’s Youth Singles and Quads
Unlike the trending in sweeps, the championship sculling programmes have podium rankings from a diverse group of clubs and schools deep in coaching expertise, focused on technique, training and fitness.
The men’s youth singles saw Brophy College Preparatory (O’Riley) taking the championship, followed by OakNeck Rowing Academy (Davison) and CRI (John’s) in the bronze position. The medallists ageing out means this group of competitors will see a new set of challenges and finalists next Spring 2025.
The women’s youth singles saw Triangle (Hahl) taking the championship, followed by Waterford (Holley) and Newport RC (Moore). The celebratory row back to the boathouse after these races showed the camaraderie and friendship this sport can genuinely foster.
The men’s youth quad celebrated three clubs deep in talent and boat speed. In first position was Los Gatos followed by Whitemarsh and The Texas Rowing Center. All three went on to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta in The Fawley Challenge Cup.
The women’s youth quad was won by Redwood Scullers, followed by Los Gatos and Oregon Unlimited.
Conclusion and 2025 Forecast
Fall racing has started in the United States and will conclude with The Head of The Charles, Boston, MA late in late October. Results will establish general boat speed, fitness and readiness for winter training and, eventually, readiness for the 2025 competitive racing season.
Eyes should be on Oak Neck Academy, CRI, Brophy Preparatory for podium performances in the men’s singles, whilst the women’s equivalent may see messers from Triangle, Waterford, Perati Competative, Founders and Newport Aquatics filling up the podium and championship finals.
In the men’s youth quads, the championship finals should find The Texas Rowing Center, Los Gatos, Redwood Scullers, Maritime, and Oakland Strokes, with The Texas Rowing Center taking advantage of their international racing experience in Canada this summer.
In the women’s youth quads, I think the top competitors will be Redwood Scullers, Los Gatos, The Rowing Club of The Woodlands, Oregon Limited and Newport Acquatics, the latter of whom are showing depth and strength from last season. Los Gatos also have the benefit of Henley Royal Regatta experience from last season.
In the men’s U16 eights, we should see RowAmerica Rye, Marin, PNRA/Mercer, Oakland Strokes and Marina Aquatics rising to the top, whilst the women’s race will likely feature strong performances from RowAmerica Rye, Marina Aquatic, Space Coast and Oakland Strokes.
I expect RowAmerica Rye to once again win the top two titles in men’s and women’s youth eights.
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