RowingRelated

We've had a lot of fun at RowingRelated in 2015—our biggest year yet. And we couldn't have done it without you. Here's what we mean by that.

Kiwi rowers training on Lake Karapiro (Screen capture) This week's featured video comes to us from New Zealand, where Olympian Nathan Twaddle checked in recently with some of the top Kiwi rowers on training and Christmas break.

Crate Digging with #RowingRelated It's that time of year again. That's right, it's time to kick the erg tires and light the indoor rowing fires, and we think these tunes might just help you accomplish both of those things.

Erg testing with Leander Club (Screen capture) This week's video comes to us from the riverbank in Henley-on-Thames. The video, shot by Nick Middleton ( check him out on Instagram here ), gives a dramatic look into the intensity inherent to the approach of Leander's athletes, as well as a sense of being in the room—and we've all been there, packed closely together in the boathouse, on test day.

Hanging loose on the water (Screen capture) This week's video comes to us thanks to Julien Bahain of Rowing Canada Aviron, and features a behind-the-scenes look at some of the training the Canadian heavyweights have been up to in 2015.

Yale launching for the Champ Eight at the 2015 Head Of The Charles (Photo: B. Kitch) This week's video offers an inside look at a training session with Steve Gladstone in the launch, as Yale goes through exercises and then some rate-building work in the fall of 2013. If you haven't seen it before, it's a fine example of technical rowing as Gladstone puts the crew through their paces; if you have seen it before, it's well worth a second look.

It's that time of year again (Photo by Eigenberg Fotografie/Flickr ) Given that we cover a water sport, it has been an impressive year on dry land.

Launching from the docks at Conibear (Photo: B. Kitch) There are rumors emerging from Seattle that longtime Washington coach Bob Ernst may be parting ways with the Huskies. [Updated December 3, 9:00pm PST below]

Germany races Great Britain for the Grand Challenge Cup (Screen capture) This week's video comes to us from the banks of the Thames River, and looks back at the final of the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last July.

C2 monitor from OUBC test, via  @OUBCsquad (Screen capture) The answer, it would appear, is yes. (And we should have seen this coming.)

From "Ever to Excel: The Power of Resilience" (Screen capture) This week's featured video comes to us from Boston College , and offers a reflection on the power and importance of resilience, in every aspect of our lives.

The Huskies ran through the Cascade Curtain on Wednesday (Photo courtesy Washington Husky Crew) Across the U.S., Canada, and the world, rowers saluted veterans with photos, articles, and remembrances on Wednesday.

The Canadian lightweight men's four, training video (Screen capture) This week's featured video comes to us from the Canadian national team, and offers two minutes of pure rowing zen.

The issues facing refugees across Europe are staggering. Political unrest and war have driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, seeking safety for themselves and for their families. That's why this small group of student rowers at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany is trying to make a big difference.

The fall racing season is winding down in 2015, and we're drawing ever closer to winter training. So, what better time than now to reflect on the fall's best performances, and take a closer look at some of the top teams heading into the 'long, dark tea-time of the soul?' Here are the top men's and women's crews at the college level, according to our power rankings.

Matt Gotrel: Rowing to Rio (Screen capture) This week's video comes to us thanks to James Poole and Loughborough University, and features reigning world champion Matt Gotrel, who reflects on a golden 2015, and offers insights into the daily life training with what has become the best rowing team in the world.

Big Red at Henley Royal Regatta (Screen capture) This week's combo #TBT-Video Of The Week post comes to us thanks to Cornell Rowing, whose lightweights made their dynastic aspirations clear earlier this year with a second-straight undefeated season, culminating in an IRA title.

Huskies on the dock, Conibear Shellhouse  While the Intarwebs might be blowing up today with Back To The Future  references (after all, it's 10/21/2015), yesterday was all about a blast from the past in Seattle, where the Washington Huskies donned vintage kit and rowed with wooden oars in wooden boats for 'an upcoming documentary.'

#HOCR51 Resources (Photo: Pete Biro)  The 51st Head Of The Charles Regatta is now just over a day away! While the rowing world descends upon that narrow stretch of the Charles River, we'll be on the scene to cover the regatta on social media and in print for ROWING Magazine . And, before the fun gets started on the water, it just wouldn't be us if we didn't throw a few picks and predictions out there for the weekend—read on for resources around the web, as well as our take on who'll be in the winners' circle on Saturday and Sunday.

Marin Rowing, 2015-2016 Preview (Screen capture) This week's featured video comes to us from Marin Rowing Association, and offers a quick window into their early season preparation and program outlook for the 2015-2016 season.

The UCSB boathouse (Photo by Culver Lau) Editor's Note: In 2013, Olympian Brad Lewis discussed his time coaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a podcast for a website called Sports Coach Radio. In the interview, which covers a range of coaching-related topics, Lewis attributes the team’s struggles to drunk and hungover athletes, calls the program "the worst in the country, bar none," and states that most students at the university have a medical marijuana card (skip forward to minutes 39-42 for Lewis' thoughts on UCSB). As most readers of RR know, UCSB has long had one of the strongest club rowing programs on the West Coast, and as such we thought there was more to the story than the singular perspective that Lewis offers. Here's a look at the reality behind the fiction. After Brad Lewis wrote one of the best books ever about rowing, Assault On Lake Casitas , he wrote a work of fiction entitled Wanted: Rowing Coach . Although Lewis

And we're back! After a week-long sabbatical following the 2015 RoRy Awards , celebrating the best of the best from the 2014-2015 season, we're ready for the 2015-2016 season, with the Head Of The Charles now less than two weeks away. But before we get into the racing, it's time to congratulate the finalists and select a winner from our September #rowingcribs Instagram contest!

The 2015 RoRys, Elite Edition (Photo thanks to David Watts) Are you ready to celebrate the best of the best, bar none, in rowing? Don't answer that, because we're going to do it anyway. Too. Much. Excitement. This being a pre-Olympic year, there was even more at stake at the World Rowing Championships, with qualification making every semifinal and final a tense affair. As usual, the best of the best rose to the occasion. Let's talk about it.

Rowing fans, it's time for Part Two of the 2015 RoRy Awards, celebrating the best athletes, coaches, and performances in intercollegiate rowing this year. And, there was no shortage of material for the RoRy Voting Committee to consider, not least of which were two unprecedented performances at IRAs and NCAAs last spring.

You may have heard of the ESPY Awards, ESPN's annual awards series. Well, they are only slightly less prestigious and highly coveted than the RoRys, our annual awards here at RowingRelated.

Karsten competing at the 2010 world championships in New Zealand (Photo: © Kevin Light) This week's video comes to us via the official YouTube Channel of the Olympics, which recently spent a week honoring the best athletes and performances on the Olympic stage.

While most of the headlines have gone to the teams atop the medal table, the French lightweights are certainly deserving of recognition, medaling in every event that they entered, including gold for top crew Jérémie Azou and Stany Delayre in the lightweight men's double. They earned a second gold medal in the lightweight quad, silvers in the LM2- and LM8+, and a fifth medal (a bronze) in the stacked lightweight men's four field.

Epic screen capture from Henry Fieldman's new video This week's video comes to us thanks to Henry Fieldman, coxswain of the British men's coxed pair, and details the harrowing journey that the crew endured along the way to the World Rowing Championships this year. Let's just say, it was touch and go for a while there.

No shortage of boats at the course at Lac d'Aiguebelette (Photo by Cam Girdlestone ) The 2015 World Rowing Championships are nearly upon us at Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, and the conditions couldn't be nicer for a contest between the world's best rowing athletes. This being an Olympic qualification year, there's still more at stake, and we're expecting a host of impressive performances as rowing federations jostle for position with a view toward Rio.

The course for head-to-head racing on the Charles The latest in the Red Bull rowing event series, which includes the famous Red Bull XRow held in Switzerland , is coming to Boston this weekend, and there will be no shortage of talent on the Charles River. And, as is typically the case with Red Bull events, it looks to be both unusual and hair-raising for athletes and spectators alike.

This week's video comes to us thanks to U.S. national team rower Matt Miller , who today released the latest in his series of training features with the men's eight, this one covering their summer training and the build up to the world championships.

The U.S. men's eight crosses the line first at the 2015 Universiade (Photo © Chris Brown) We're now just a little over two weeks away from the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, where the world's top rowing athletes will gather to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio next year. Team USA is coming off a series of strong international performances, including multiple trips to the podium in Plovdiv at U23s, as well as a historically good World Rowing Junior Championships, but we thought we'd take a look back to one of the earliest successes of the summer: The victory for the U.S. men's eight in Chungju at the World University Games.

Early morning training at California Rowing Club (Photo: B. Kitch) The final boats for this year's U.S. world championships team have been named, following trials on Wednesday in Princeton. And, we've got to say, we don't understand the logic behind the selection procedures for the men’s quad.

The junior women's eight from the Netherlands training on Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon (Photo courtesy Erik Mus) The World Rowing Junior Championships are set to kick off this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and despite the less-than-ideal water conditions (a situation that is a developing concern for the upcoming Olympic Games as well—of that, more later), the world's best high school rowers are keeping a sunny disposition and gearing up for a week full of racing.

The view from the boat bay (Photo: B. Kitch) Coaching is difficult. Success depends on the right mixture of soft and hard skills, in many cases unique to a particular group of athletes, program type, or other circumstance. Examples abound across all sports and professions. It’s not uncommon for a successful coach at one program to move to another and not see the same results. Why does that happen? Did they forget how to coach? What makes for success at one program and not at another? These are difficult, if not impossible, questions to answer. What is possible, though, is to better understand the challenge of assuming a new leadership or coaching position. First up, the evaluative and preparatory steps. Know the Level This applies to any new situation, for both veteran and novice coaches alike. Before you can hold athletes, coaches, and programs to a standard of performance, it’s imperative that you understand how that standard relates to success at your level. In ro

The Brazilian men's double training in Rio (Screen capture) This week's featured videos offer two views of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, one from Chile, and the other from Brazil.

The Kiwi Pair celebrate Olympic gold in the London 2012 edition of ROWING Magazine This week's video comes to us from the Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland, where the Kiwi Pair re-entered international competition in 2015 with yet another win, this time capping off the World Rowing Cup series for the year.

Opening Day, 1987 via KOMO News (Screen capture) This week's combination #ThrowbackThursday-Video Of The Week post comes to us thanks to KOMO News, Seattle, and is a look back at the 1987 Windermere Cup, which saw the Soviet national rowing team come to the Northwest to race the Washington Huskies.

David Watts and the Aussie M4x training on the Rotsee (Photo: © David Watts) The third and final World Rowing Cup of the year is already well underway, with the heats earlier this morning and the semis and finals upcoming over the weekend

Yale on their way to winning the semifinal of the Ladies' Plate (Photo: RR Staff) This week's video comes to us from the banks of the Thames, and features some of the most outstanding performances from the 2015 Henley Royal Regatta, which wrapped up yesterday after nearly a week of top-notch racing.

The Cornell lightweight men have shown poise throughout the first three rounds of the Temple Challenge Cup, but will all these tight races take a toll heading into the semifinals?

High Tea with the Hoos The following is the fifth installment of our series with Virginia's Forrest Brown, after the Hoos' close loss to Hobart in the Temple Challenge Cup.

Virginia racing past the Progress Board in Round One of the Temple The following is the fourth installment of our #HoosGoingToHenley series with Forrest Brown of Virginia Men's Rowing.

Things are already heating up in Henley-on-Thames (Photo: B. Kitch) While the first day of racing at Henley is nearly over, there are many events that have not yet begun. Wednesday was a hot one, both in terms of the weather and the action on the water, and we don't see any reason what that should change (in the case of the latter, at least) throughout the week on the Thames. Here are a few choice picks and predictions for the racing to come, thanks to the RR International Research Department.

Not long now! Catching up with the Hoos on the eve of Henley Royal Regatta What follows is the third installment of our #HoosGoingToHenley series, thanks to Forrest Brown of Virginia, as he and the Cavaliers gear up for the first day of racing at Henley Royal Regatta.

Kent School Boat Club at Dorney Lake (Photo courtesy of KSBC) This week's featured video comes to us thanks to Sam Haack of Kent School Boat Club, as KSBC prepares to take on the competition in the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, starting tomorrow!

#HoosGoingToHenley, Part Two: Dude, where are our oars? While Henley is still a week away, it's time for the second installment of the #HoosGoingToHenley series, with Forrest Brown.

This week's double-feature comes to us from England, where Oxford Brookes is looking to put the finishing touches on a stellar season, while Leander is aiming to defend home water at Henley Royal Regatta.

Last strokes of the men's varsity eight final at USRowing Youth Nationals, 2015 (Photo: J. Price) It was another Year of the Dynasty in college rowing in 2015, but this year’s running of USRowing Youth Nationals saw new champions crowned.

Results from H1 of the M2x (via  @SinkovicBros ) The second World Rowing Cup of the season is underway in Varese, Italy, and there are a couple international athletes who are winning both on and off the water. After the racing today, which saw both Mahe Drysdale and the Sinkovic Brothers progress to the A/B semifinals, three of the world's best scullers took to Twitter, with Drysdale challenging Martin and Valent Sinkovic to come race in the single. And the results? Fantastic.

RR series: #HoosGoingToHenley, Part One As longtime readers of RowingRelated will remember, we have twice connected with athletes and crews heading over to Henley Royal Regatta in the past. This year, we're doing it again.

Coxswain's view of the Norcal men's lightweight eight (Screen capture) This year's running of USRowing Youth Nationals is in the books, and while the college rowing championships saw repeat champions in most cases (and the return of the Stanford Lightweight dynasty in others), the racing in Sarasota featured a bevy of new crews crowned.

Matt Miller (right) training with the U.S. men's eight (Screen capture) World Rowing Cup II is just around the corner, and the U.S. men's eight is gearing up to head over to Europe for their first international competition of this pre-Olympic year. And, thanks to the work of  Mike Gennaro  and  Matt Miller , we've got an inside (read: banter-laden) look at just who these guys are donning the red, white, and blue in the big boat this season.