RowingRelated

The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States. ...

UW rowing through the Montlake Cut (Photo: RR) Press Release: Washington Rowing, along with Windermere Real Estate, welcomes the Shanghai men's and women's High-Performance Rowing teams from China as the headlining opponent for the 31st annual Windermere Cup, scheduled for Saturday, May 6, 2017.

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 Kiwi Pair racing to the line, Cambridge Town Cup (Screen capture) It has been a minute, but we're back. And there's much to catch up on, not least of which are the goings on at the Cambridge Town Cup in New Zealand, where a host of Olympians and Olympic hopefuls from arguably the world's strongest rowing federation locked horns over the weekend.

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.

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.

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.

The Kiwi men's eight training on the Montlake Cut (Photo by B. Kitch for ROWING Magazine) This year, Rowing New Zealand will be looking to qualify no less than 48 athletes—the maximum number allowed for any single rowing federation—for the Olympics in Rio.

This week's video is a one-on-one, in-depth interview with Washington Husky men's coach Mike Callahan  thanks to Kevin Shoop, and discusses the culture that Callahan and staff have created within the confines of the Conibear Shellhouse. More than that, it provides a context for what has been the most successful men's rowing program in the U.S. for the last decade, and sheds some light on Callahan's own background and reasons for choosing Washington.

George Bridgewater racing at the 2015 New Zealand Rowing Championships (Photo: Steve McArthur) Already a double Olympian after Beijing, where he won a bronze medal with partner Nathan Twaddle in the men's pair, George Bridgewater decided it was time for a new challenge. The next chapter in his life took him from Oxford (where he won the Boat Race) to Hong Kong, where he put his considerable competitive drive to good use in the business world. But something wasn't quite right—Bridgewater knew that he could still be competitive on the water as well, and last year made the decision to give it one more go. The goal: Rio 2016. Here, George shares some insights about his previous Olympic experiences, his time away from the sport, and the journey back to elite-level training and racing with Rowing New Zealand.

This week's video comes to us from Christchurch, New Zealand, where Canterbury Rowing Club (est. 1861) is preparing for the New Zealand Rowing Championships, to be held this week at Lake Ruataniwha. The video offers a mix of on-the-water training, land workouts, and the kind of general faffing about necessary at all good rowing clubs. Along with Canterbury Rowing Club, the best of the best will be competing this week, including Mahé Drysdale , Robbie Manson , and Hamish Bond —the trio who finished first, second, and third (separated by 0.6 seconds) at the North Island Club Championships, featured in our VOTW last week . This year, Bond will be racing in the M1x, M2-, M4-, and M8+ (for a look back at the final of the 2014 championships, which Bond won by roughly half a length over Drysdale, watch the video here ). Keep tabs on the results from Lake Ruataniwha here: http://www.rowit.co.nz/regattas/nzcc2015 And coming up this week, our interview with Beijing bronze medalist an...

This week's video comes to us from New Zealand, where the North Island Club Championships took place at Lake Karapiro over the weekend. The regatta saw what is currently the best overall team in the world go head to head in small boats, and the results were suitably outstanding, with perhaps the ultimate nail-biter finish in the men's premier single, shown above. Heading into the final few meters, reigning Olympic champion Mahé Drysdale just barely holds off a furious charge from two other Olympians— Robbie Manson and Hamish Bond . As they cross the line, less than 0.6 seconds separates the first three athletes, with Drysdale avenging his loss to Bond at last year's North Island Champs , and Manson making good on early season promise in 2015. When all was said and done, Mahé took gold in a time of 6:58.46, Manson silver in 6:58.79, and Bond bronze in 6:59.01. The other half of the Kiwi Pair, Eric Murray , finished sixth in the A Final. Another notable result was Kerri...

This week, we're throwing it back to the Olympic Games in Athens, and the final of the men's coxless four. In a regatta that was filled to the brim with excellent racing, this might have been the best of the lot. It features a shocking number of the most successful rowing athletes in international racing history, including Matthew Pinsent , James Cracknell , and Jake Wetzel , and the finish has to be seen to be believed—in the end, the victory for Team GB earned Pinsent his fourth Olympic gold medal, securing his place in the pantheon of world rowing. While the above video includes commentary from each of the rowers in the British four, and helps set the stage for a dramatic final, the below offers look at the race in its entirety. Take a closer look at that New Zealand men's four—does anyone look familiar? Mahé Drysdale is sitting in the two seat, and the boat is stroked by Eric Murray . Mind = blown, right? Have an ideal candidate for #TBT for #FBF next week? Sho...

This week's featured video comes to us via 2014 U23 and senior world gold medalist Caleb Shepherd , coxswain of the New Zealand under-23 men's eight and the Kiwi Pair plus this season. The video features a mixture of water and land training from the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere—a few months back for the Kiwi coaches and crews now, but perfectly timed for those of us training in North America and Europe. Of particular note here is the consistency of technique and power application both on the water and on the erg—something which translated very well at the world level, where the Kiwi U23 eight scored its second gold medal in as many years. For more New Zealand rowing content here on RR, use our New Zealand search label .  Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestions via Twitter , or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages. -RR

The men's sweep Great Eight training on the Charles (Photo: Sean Wolf) With the 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta looming ever larger on the horizon, the athletes and coaches have already begun to show up and start preparing for the main event. Earlier today, resident Charles' expert Sean Wolf of Rowing Illustrated captured several photos of the men's sweepers Great Eight—a crew that we highlighted in our Champ Eight piece recently, and which consists of Joshua Dunkley-Smith (AUS), Olivier Siegelaar (NED), Hamish Bond (NZL), Richard Schmidt (GER), Conlin McCabe (CAN), Henrik Rummel (USA), Francesco Fossi (ITA), and Jacob Barsoe (DEN), with Jack Carlson (USA) at coxswain. Looking at the photo, it appears that the above lineup has stuck, for now at least. Let the pre-race banter continue!

DiSanto (fourth from left) and the Harvard crew (Photo courtesy Mike DiSanto) Last weekend, the 2014 Gallagher Great Race took over the Waikato River, and pitted local favorite Waikato University against a Harvard crew in the men's eight race for the Harry Mahon Memorial Cup. While Harvard managed an early lead, a clash led to an ejection in the Waikato boat; the race was restarted, and following the restart, the hometown crew got the better of the Crimson. Strangely, it wasn't the first time that a Harvard entry had faced a penalty and a restart in the Gallagher Great Race, as, controversially, the race was stopped and restarted in 2007 (that time, the Waikato crew made a successful protest saying that the leading Harvard crew had impeded their progress , resulting in a restart and another Waikato win). Here, Mike DiSanto brings us up to speed on what went down in New Zealand. RR: The last time that Harvard visited for the Gallagher Great Race in 2007, there was a cont...

Harvard Crew at Hamilton Boys' School Reception (Photo courtesy Mike DiSanto) As we noted yesterday , Harvard Crew will be represented at the 2014 running of the Gallagher Great Race on the Waikato River, New Zealand. Among the Crimson athletes competing is U.S. national teamer and Oxford Blue Mike DiSanto , who is teaming up with a few current students and fellow graduates to take on Waikato University over the 3.8km, upstream course. Here, we catch up with Mike on a few of the particulars so far. RR: Heading to New Zealand for an athletic event is no small order, even before you get to the starting line. How are you and the rest of the Harvard crew going about coping with the travel? Is that made easier by your prior international racing experience (being that South Korea is a pretty long haul as well)? Mike DiSanto: The travel portion has been tough. I left from Heathrow at 4pm on Friday and arrived in Auckland on 5am Sunday. With the jet lag, the days start at 4 or 5, n...

Rainbows over the Bosbaan, Amsterdam (Photo: Nick D'Antoni) Worlds have been in the books for a few days now, and we've all had the chance to reflect on what was another outstanding regatta capping off a great summer of international-level racing. Going in, the Kiwis looked to be firing on all cylinders—and the All Blacks didn't disappoint—while Great Britain, arguably the most complete team in the lead-up to their home Olympics, bounced back from midseason doldrums in the eight and emerged as the force to be reckoned with in men's sweep rowing. The U.S. women, on the other hand, continued their incredible run of success, and once again accounted for the lion's (lioness's?) share of the American medal haul.

The 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, as usual, showcased the 'next generation' of senior level greats, but perhaps more so this year than last. Why? The Kiwi women's pair absolutely dominated their race, setting the only world best time of the regatta in Varese, and look like they're already contenders at the senior level given their silver at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne. It looks like the path to glory in Rio will see more fireworks in the pairs between GB and NZ, this time on the women's side—and given the upside of this newly formed duo of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler , we expect that Brits Heather Stanning and Helen Glover will have a fight on their hands. @rowingrelated NZ W2- — KIWIPAIR (@kiwipair) July 28, 2014 Also among the top performances, of course, was that of the Kiwi men's eight—the All Blacks entered as the favorites, and didn't disappoint, taking their second title in as many years at the U23 level. The results f...

This week's featured video comes to us via World Rowing , and makes use of GoPro cameras to take us along for the ride with some of the best athletes and crews in our sport. There's no shortage of big names making an appearance, among them the Kiwi Pair , the men's eight from Australia , and the Romanian and Canadian women's eights. Mixing in a little slow-mo also makes this a good video for coaches to show their athletes, and that soundtrack! (Is this a first for FISA, going all Dubstep on us?) Whether you're new to the sport, or have been involved for many years, it's hard to beat watching a few athletes at the top of their game doing what they do best. Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestions via Twitter , or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages. We're hoping to cover the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, but we need your help to do it. R...