RowingRelated

Better late than never! The 2013 ACRA National Championships are nearly underway on Lake Lanier, Georgia, with expanded, eight-lane finals sure to make for exciting racing once again this year. Here are our thoughts on what'll happen this weekend: Men's Varsity Eight Virginia Michigan State Michigan Cavalier seniors Scott Stuard and Jonathan Furlong will be looking to set the record straight after a sixth place finish at Dad Vails, while Michigan State's Mike Slopsema  and the Spartans are hoping to back up their excellent performance in Philadelphia with more hardware in Gainesville. Wolverine junior Louis Schaljo and the Michigan men's varsity eight are coming off a win at ECACs, and Grand Valley, led by RR interviewee Justin Wegner , has a tough squad, and more experience than last year's campaign—the Lakers will be battling for a podium finish this year after just missing at ACRAs in 2012. Women's Varsity Eight Grand Valley Purdue UCSB S...

The Coast frosh head to the line at Redwood Shores (Photo: B. Kitch) There is a great deal to talk about in the rowing world these days, with rogue swimmers, Olympic selection, and World Cups around the corner, all of which makes it hard to keep pace with the results as all the regattas and championships begin to crowd one another into the month of May. SIRAs, which took place last weekend, featured a great deal of very close racing between teams in that hard-to-define place between the top-tier varsity programs and top-tier clubs, while WIRAs will feature still more such teams this weekend in Sacramento. [Disclaimer/Warning: The following content contains opinions.] SIRAs Review:  The 2012 SIRAs showcased the increasing depth of the club field as a very strong Virginia program continues to improve under head coach Frank Biller . Biller's boys fought a varsity program in George Washington all the way to the line in the varsity eight, with the Colonials eventually edging t...

The Cal squad had a great weekend at the Stanford Invitational/Pac-12 Challenge, but the frosh squad was perhaps the most dominant force on the water. Last year, the Cal frosh posted an undefeated season that they capped off with a victory at Henley Royal Regatta, and, given the level of talent this year, they may be poised to do just the same. Coach Wyatt Allen, however, remains cautious but optimistic, as is evident in the video above. Orange Coast College had a tough go at Crew Classic, posting the third fastest time in the heats of the Cal Cup, but narrowly missing the final behind event winner Grand Valley State and the Oklahoma City University Stars. After winning Newport Regatta the weekend prior, OCC had solid results over the weekend (as head coach Paul Prioleau explains above) and will look to have a strong second half to the season. -RR

The No. 3 Cal Bears were in action at home over the weekend, welcoming the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers to Redwood Shores for a traditional early season match-up. The Bears are tuning up for the rivalry race with the Washington Huskies next weekend (21 April), also at Redwood Shores, while the Badgers came out to California looking to test their early season speed, with considerable success. The video, shot from the bridge which is (roughly) at the 1000m mark, includes clips from the men's varsity eight race (as well as MV8 match-ups between Stanford and UCSD , and Orange Coast College and USD ), the 2V8, and the frosh eight events. The Badgers battled very well in the varsity eight, but fell by roughly a length to Cal, though Wisconsin was able to reverse this result in the 2V8, taking the event by approximately three seconds over a crew that defeated Harvard at the San Diego Crew Classic just two weeks ago.  Coming up tomorrow on RR: Video interviews with Cal's Wyatt All...

Frosh 8 Grand Final in the last 250 (Photo: N. D'Antoni) Frosh 8 Grand Final last 100m (Photo: N. D'Antoni) Coast Frosh lead Gonzaga and UCSD (Photo: N. D'Antoni) Coast margin in Frosh 8 GF (Photo: N. D'Antoni) Varsity 8 GF - UCSD and Gonzaga (Photo: N. D'Antoni) UCSD maintains lead over Gonzaga (Photo: N. D'Antoni) UCSD and Gonzaga approach the finish (Photo: N. D'Antoni) Big thanks to Nick for the photos!

Wisconsin 2V warming up (Photo: B. Kitch) OCC Varsity 8 enters the course (Photo: B. Kitch) Cal Frosh racing (Photo: B. Kitch) Cal 2V rows to the line (Photo: B. Kitch) Wisconsin Frosh racing (Photo: B. Kitch) Cal 3V rows to the start (Photo: B. Kitch) The top picks (pics) from Redwood Shores last weekend. Like the photos? Leave a comment and let us know. Thanks!

Last week was a busy one at RR, with our first piece for Rowing News on the 2010 Cal Men's Varsity Eight throwing out the first pitch at a Giants game Wednesday night, and some great racing over the weekend at Redwood Shores. There were several barn burners, as Cal and Wisconsin showed some fantastic speed -- the Varsity Eight race was dead-even through 1500m, with Cal inching ahead as the two crews approached the line (both crews crossed in times within 4.5 seconds of the course record). Wisconsin's 2V got the better of Cal, who made a late push and came up short, while the Cal Frosh dominated -- this is a crew that may be on pace to win at IRAs this June. This week's video, created and produced by RowingRelated, showcases the Varsity Eights from Cal and Wisco, Stanford and OSU, and Orange Coast College and UC Davis, as well as the Cal 3V pitted against 1V from Santa Clara University, the 2V race between Cal and Wisco, and Cal v. Wisco Freshman Eight race. In addition...