RowingRelated

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.

RR junior rowing rankings Here at RowingRelated, we're all about knowledge. And, what better way to put a little of it to use than to make some brash picks and predictions? So, for the first time, we're putting together the official RR rankings for junior men's and women's rowing programs, based—for the most part—on sweep rowing results in the big boats, following the college model. This will naturally change and adapt in the future—it's not a perfect system. But it's a start. Here are our picks for Spring 2015. Attention, go.

Nick D'Antoni (top left) coaching at a USRowing junior ID camp, 2015 (Photo: B. Kitch) USRowing junior national team coach Nick D'Antoni is no stranger to success. Here, he shares some insight into how to build technique and style for the long haul.

The view from the MRA boathouse (Photo: B. Kitch) While the fall rowing season in the U.S. may be largely at an end, the Marin junior men's program are continuing to log the miles that make champions. Having narrowly lost the Men's Youth Eight event at the 2014 Head Of The Charles to Bay Area rival Oakland Strokes (the East Bay crew finishing just over one second ahead of Marin, who came in as defending champions), the MRA varsity men bounced back at the Head of the American (held at Lake Natoma, just outside Sacramento, California) the following weekend, winning the men's junior eight event over Southern California's Newport Aquatic Center by roughly nine seconds (though NAC placed three crews in the top 10, taking second, third, and eighth place—and, given the return of head coach Nick D'Antoni to Newport, they'll be a team to watch going forward this year). Have you been grinding out the low-rate, long distance miles as we gear up for winter? Sen...

This week's video comes to us from Newport Beach, California, where a very competitive NAC men's squad has been logging quality miles in search of that most coveted of hardware at the junior level—a medal at the USRowing Youth National Championships , set for this weekend on Lake Natoma. At Southwest Junior Regionals in the first week of May, NAC showed that they've had an excellent recruiting year, winning the men's novice eight and second novice eight, the novice four, and the frosh eight, while at the varsity level, the NAC men took silver in the lightweight eight, bronze in the varsity four, and gold in the men's single. NAC, along with West Coast powerhouse programs Marin , Oakland Strokes , Los Gatos , and Long Beach Junior Crew will all be in action in Sacramento, and likely in contention for a number of podium appearances. More to come on junior nationals later this week here on RR—in the meantime, please follow the link for schedules and event informa...

Here at RowingRelated, we're all about knowledge, and putting knowledge to use. In keeping with this idea, below you'll find the 2012 RR Picks and Predictions for USRowing Youth Nationals–a more comprehensive list of predictions full of information you won't find anywhere else–as well as crews to watch, courtesy of the RR Research Department. SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you wish to know what is going to happen this weekend in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Women's 1x: We expect to see a serious battle in this event between Harvard bound Rosie Grinalds from GMS (formerly of Connecticut Boat Club) and last year's winner Stanford bound Taylor Burdge from Tampa. Don't be surprised if the young up and coming phenom Elizabeth Sharis makes some serious noise this weekend and gets on the medal stand. and Cicely Madden from CRI (formerly of BB&N) will also be in the medal hunt. Look for Syracuse bound Alex Zadravec of GMS and young Kendall Brewer of Texas Rowing Center ...

The Marin Juniors have shown a level of dominance this Fall that has the rest of the junior rowing world looking for an answer. The Marin RA boys, led by Graham Willoughby, began their Fall campaign with perhaps the biggest statement possible on the grandest stage available -- a first place finish at the Head of the Charles from a 69th place starting position . In so doing, they trumped Everett's push to surpass Eton College, the 3rd and 1st place starters respectively. Everett can be very pleased that they too triumphed over what has been a powerhouse British school for several years now, but clearly they had much less to deal with in front of them than did Marin, whose coxswain steered a fantastic course and allowed his rowers to ignore the distractions that go along with passing, turning and adjusting speed on the Charles. In speaking with Willoughby, he described it as an almost automated series of decisive moves that his veteran coxswain was able to make -- exactly what you ne...