RowingRelated

Coxswain's view of the Norcal men's lightweight eight (Screen capture) This year's running of USRowing Youth Nationals is in the books, and while the college rowing championships saw repeat champions in most cases (and the return of the Stanford Lightweight dynasty in others), the racing in Sarasota featured a bevy of new crews crowned.

The USRowing Southwest Junior District Championships (say that four times, fast) took place on Lake Natoma (just outside Sacramento, CA) over the weekend, and there were several crews who made quite an impression on us as they punched their tickets to the USRowing Youth National Championships next month. Among those crews were some familiar names, as Marin Rowing Association continues to field a high volume of very fast crews on both the men's and women's sides, but there were also some relative newcomers to the stage. Also, early season favorites Oakland Strokes saw their undefeated season end in the women's varsity eight by the narrowest of margins, with last year's national champion Marin taking the top spot on the podium, and setting up a great rivalry race in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Graham Willoughby's Marin men's varsity eight was, once again, dominant, taking the event by open water over the field, and continuing their unbeaten streak that began at the...

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...