Video Of The Week: Inside the Kiwi Men's Eight, with Coxswain Caleb Shepherd

The Kiwi Eight preparing for the Windermere Cup in 2015 (Photo: B. Kitch for ROWING Magazine)

Spring racing season at the junior and collegiate levels in the U.S. is nearing Jimmy Fallon levels of 'fever pitch,' but before we get into what that means for the upcoming championships, we wanted to highlight this new interview with the Kiwi men's eight coxswain Caleb Shepherd.

The video below offers some insight into the mindset of these young oarsmen (remember: this is virtually the same Kiwi crew that won back-to-back U23 world titles), as well as hints about Shepherd's approach to the coxswain's seat.



This also gives us the opportunity to say that last year's Windermere Cup Regatta featured an intense battle between these Kiwis and the Huskies of the University of Washington—this year's Windermere Cup, set for this coming weekend, will be contested by an even deeper, international field that includes Russia and Cambridge.



With World Cup I in the books (thanks again to Austrian photographer Julius Hirtzberger for bringing our Instagram along for the ride), the countdown to Rio has begun in earnest, and stateside we recently celebrated the naming of seven athletes to the Olympic Team following Trials in Sarasota, Florida, with more aiming to earn their way to Rio via the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta still to come.

And, needless to say, folks were pretty excited.




More to come this week regarding all of the above, as well as our look back at the highlights of spring racing season thus far in our Regular Season Report—keep it locked!

-RR

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