RowingRelated

This year's running of Crew Classic in San Diego was marked, more than anything, by large margins in the marquee races, and saw defending champions on the men's and women's sides take titles once again on Mission Bay. While we didn't post picks and predictions for San Diego this year, it was a good measuring stick for our preseason rankings. And, while there were a few surprises, in most cases the results confirmed our suspicions. At the collegiate level, arguably the most impressive performances of the regatta came from the California men and the Washington women—while UW didn't manage to wrestle the Jessop-Whittier Cup from USC's vise-grip, the Huskies and Golden Bears showed off their depth as well as excellent top-end speed over the course of the two-day regatta. The Cal men's varsity eight (RR preseason No. 1) absolutely dominated the Copley Cup final, winning by roughly eight seconds over Northeastern ( RR No. 5), who finished eight seconds ahea...

A little while ago, we reached another milestone here at RR, and, well, we're pretty chuffed about it. Last month, we crossed the 1 million pageview mark , and we'd like to say thank you for reading, viewing, sharing, commenting, and just generally being a member of what we like to think of as the RowingRelated community. Hard to believe that it all began with this post, our Statement of Purpose , in October of 2010. So, thanks a million, everyone! The weekend ahead is loaded with on-the-water action on both sides of the pond, with the 2014 San Diego Crew Classic taking over Mission Bay, and the BNY Mellon Boat Race pitting rival shades of blue against one another for the 160th time. We'll be on the beach in San Diego to catch the racing in Southern California—look for social media updates throughout the weekend ( see here for the schedule/draw )—and in the meantime, don't forget to vote in our Boat Race poll. Who's your pick to reach Mortlake first this year? ...

Collegiate programs aren't the only snowbirds in the American rowing community. The U.S. national team has been training in California of late, taking advantage of what has been, even for California, unseasonably warm weather and calm conditions. These videos come by way of U.S. national team high performance director Curtis Jordan , and in the clips from the men's training sessions, you can hear coach Luke McGee's voice over the megaphone. Coming up soon on RR: A coaches' corner piece on avoiding subconscious complacency (how can we push beyond our imaginary limits?), and a look inside the inner workings of California Rowing Club . -RR

California Rowing Club's Bernhard Stomporowski has done it again—this recap of the CRC experience of Crew Classic has some nice camerawork, interviews with all of the crew members, and one of the most off-the-wall soundtracks you'll find accompanying any rowing video. (Frankly, we'll be happy to celebrate (almost) anything that includes the stellar vocals of the late, great  Eduard Khil .) As in 2012, CRC dominated the men's open eight event in San Diego, though Cal's entry in the event proved stronger than in previous years, nearly hanging onto a bow-to-stern deficit, with the Little Knights rounding out the top three (also for the second straight year since winning the event in 2011).

As usual, the weather was one of the main attractions at the Crew Classic this year, with some of the flattest racing conditions to be seen on Mission Bay just in time for Sunday morning's finals. As several of the top junior & college coaches noted , one thing you're not likely to deal with in San Diego is having your races cancelled. The racing was of a high quality, and the atmosphere around the course was great—here are a few of our favorite photos from the weekend to give you a glimpse of the 40th running of the San Diego Crew Classic. For mobile users, here's a direct link to the gallery on Flickr . Thanks to all those involved in putting the regatta together, and congrats to all those who competed this year. The countdown to #crewclassic2014 has already begun! Only 363 days until #CrewClassic 2014.Training starts...TOMORROW! twitter.com/TheSeatPad/sta… — The Seat Pad (@TheSeatPad) April 9, 2013 -RR

Dramatic skies over Mission Bay (Photo: B. Kitch)  The 40th edition of the Crew Classic in San Diego was all about depth. There was no clearer example of this than the performance of the USC Trojans , who swept the women's NCAA DI events and set a new standard for performance on Mission Bay. Cal and Virginia also posted very strong results, and we'll be expecting their speed to continue to increase as we draw closer to championship racing season. Also as expected, Washington and UCLA were also very much part of the conversation—this looks to be another very strong year in the Pac-12 (perhaps the best ever depth in the conference, from top to bottom). On the men's side, Cal was dominant—another very deep team with a ton of upside coming from strong sophomore and junior classes, including 2013 Crash-B winner Christian Kader and emerging talent  Carter Crowe . The Cal men's second varsity posted the second  third fastest time of the day on Sunday (behind only t...

Head coach John Bancheri's program at Grand Valley State has become a perennial contender in the ACRA league on both the men's and women's sides, thanks in no small part to the contributions of athletes like our most recent RR interviewee, Justin Wegner . Justin began rowing in high school, and brought some experience to the Laker program when he arrived on campus in 2009. Since then, Justin and the GVSU squad have continued to post better and better results—not least of which was winning the Cal Cup at the 2012 San Diego Crew Classic. Here, Justin shares a little about his rowing background, the program at GVSU, and his thoughts on the rising tide of ACRA rowing. RR: In the rowing world, we hear a lot about high school athletes who 'burn out' when it comes to rowing in college, but you are the complete opposite, with better and better results to show for it. What motivates you as an athlete and keeps the flame burning so bright? Justin Wegner: Rowing was t...

This week's video comes to us from none other than Bernhard Stomporowski at California Rowing Club , and features an inside look at CRC's visit to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California a short while ago. The U.S. men's eight is on the scene in Sydney and gearing up for the first World Rowing Cup of the season as we speak, with the events at the greater 2013 Sydney International Rowing Regatta already underway. Stroked by 2011 U23 gold medalist Mike Gennaro (formerly of Syracuse), the eight also includes several members of the 2012 Olympic crew, in the form of Steve Kasprzyk , David Banks , and Grant James , while another Olympian, Tom Peszek of the 2012 U.S. men's pair, is holding it down in seven seat to begin the new quadrennium. As we've come to expect from Bernhard's videos, there's a healthy bit of humor thrown into the mix, starting with the title.... (Also, well done to 2012 USRowing national champ in the M1x  Matt Brown on t...

Now that all the racing is done and Mission Bay is once again surrounded by a park rather than a hundred boat trailers, it's time to take a look at our predictions from last week, and the performances of the top crews in San Diego last weekend. Women's Events: NCAA Teams Well, we picked the right teams, if not in the right order. USC showed that they have plenty of speed and depth in their program over the weekend, pushing Stanford and Cal into second and third, respectively. Cal was in Lane 4, which can make a difference, with USC in the more sheltered Lane 2 -- but then, that is why the heats matter in San Diego. An interesting note on the USC squad -- of the 37 rowers listed on their Varsity roster , 17 are internationals. Zenon Babraj has done a great deal of recruiting overseas, and it looks like it's paying dividends in terms of boat speed for the Trojans, as they took first place in the Varsity 4+ as well. We picked Washington to win the 2V and the Freshman/N...

Crew Classic is here! Spring season officially begins in San Diego, and the weather predictions look just right for another year of great racing in warmer climes. Here are our picks for the premier events in San Diego this weekend, on both the men's and women's sides: Women's Events: NCAA Teams The Jessop-Whittier Cup for the Women's Varsity 8 is going to be, by far, the deepest event at this year's Crew Classic. We are picking Cal to win it all after looking very sharp in their opening season victories this past weekend at Redwood Shores . Not only are they very talented and well coached, but they are rowing this season in memory of Jill Costello and had an ESPN film crew following them last weekend to capture Jill's story. Look for their Varsity 8+ shell, 'Beat Lung Cancer' to cross the line first on Sunday. Stanford will also look to be in the hunt. Although they are loaded with talent in their Varsity 8+, Lindsay Meyer (2008 Olympian) sat ou...