RowingRelated

Nick Trojan's latest feature documentary is twice as long as his previous work—but leaves you wanting more, just the same.  There’s a new feature in Nick Trojan’s series, taking an inside look at top-tier college rowing programs in the US. This time, Trojan focused his project on Yale and the legendary coach Steve Gladstone, blending outstanding camerawork with one of rowing’s most compelling stories.  Having uploaded the video to YouTube only two weeks ago, it’s already approaching 70k views. And for good reason.  RR sat down recently to talk through it all with Trojan in an exclusive interview, from origins to development and finally a finished product—as well as what might come next. Here’s what we learned. Navigating shifting waters Elite rower turned filmmaker Nick Trojan’s new feature, titled simply, “Yale Men’s Rowing,” was years in the making.  “The initial idea was to do the same kind of rinse-and-repeat that we had done with Harvard and Cal,” Trojan says, “...

Last year around this time, USRowing athlete-turned-filmmaker Nick Trojan released his first in a series documenting some of the most storied rowing programs in the country, offering a window into Harvard Crew . Now, he's releasing the second in that series—this one on the program at Cal, where Canadian Olympian and Cal grad Scott Frandsen has taken the reins as head coach. Here, we catch up with Nick on the background and inspiration behind the project, as well as how he crafted this piece on the Golden Bears. RowingRelated: What is the inspiration behind your series on rowing? What is it about the sport that you feel the need to communicate? Is there more to the story than what is out there now? Nick Trojan:  I'd say my love for competition and my love for watching movies and filmmaking itself have driven me the most. Ever since my dad let me use our family's video camera to record my friends mountain biking and BMX riding, I've been hooked on maki...

Sarah Tait racing in the women's pair (Screen capture from 'School for Sculling') We received this memorial piece in honor of Sarah Tait from Australian rower and filmmaker Mike Nicholson, whose work has frequently been featured here on RR.

Huskies on the dock, Conibear Shellhouse  While the Intarwebs might be blowing up today with Back To The Future  references (after all, it's 10/21/2015), yesterday was all about a blast from the past in Seattle, where the Washington Huskies donned vintage kit and rowed with wooden oars in wooden boats for 'an upcoming documentary.'

Harmonie , a new short rowing documentary from Scott Del Vecchio This week's featured video comes to us from Jacksonville alum and filmmaker Scott Del Vecchio , who has put together a beautiful short documentary on a rowing teammate ( Antoine Lagouge ) in France, where Del Vecchio is pursuing masters-level studies in training and physiology. The film touches on the discipline of rowing, as well as its healing qualities—the sport serves as both a taskmaster and as a much needed release, and the same sense of team and helping those around you transfers directly for Lagouge to his work as a physiotherapist. (Don't worry, if your French isn't that good, Del Vecchio has provided subtitles.) And, it's nicely timed—our French rowing brothers and sisters have been very much on our minds lately. Thanks very much to Scott for sending us the video! Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your sugge...

Best of RR, 2014 Edition We're mere minutes away from the beginning of a new year, and we can't wait to find out what the 2015 rowing season holds. However, there's never a better time to look back on the previous 12 months than New Year's Eve, and that's just what we're up to this evening. And so, without further ado, here are our top 10 posts (according to you) from 2014. 1. Stop Seat Racing: The Future of Crew Selection Virginia Men's Rowing head coach Frank Biller's take on how best to select your crew, given the increasing level of data available to coaches and athletes. 2. Head of the Charles Banter: Can We Talk about how Badass This Year's 'Great Eights' Are? Apparently, we weren't the only ones excited about the increased number (and level of badassedness) of the men's and women's Great Eights at the Head of the Charles in 2014. 3. So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now? If the level of success that this p...

The 1974 Aussie LM4- training in Switzerland As we approach the end of another year, it's important to reflect on how far we've come. And, one way to do that is to turn back the clock. 40 years ago, the Australian national team was preparing for the 1974 world championships in Lucerne, Switzerland. The below film, shot by Harvey Nicholson and edited by the same and his son, Mike, offers what is at once a nostalgic and informative view of elite rowing training at the time. The lightweight crew—the first-ever Aussie crew to win international gold—was made up of Campbell Johnston , Andrew Michelmore , Geoff Rees , and Colin Smith (from stern to bow), and recently had a reunion ( and weigh in! ) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their victory. Here's some background on the film from Mike Nicholson: [This film follows] the 1974 Australian Men's Lightweight Coxless Four that were the first Australian crew ever to win a gold medal at either the Olympics or World Rowi...

This week, we're taking a look back to 1979 and the wisdom of Harry Parker , through this training film. The first 45 minutes of the above are shot in Hanover, New Hampshire. Interviewer Bill Stowe —an Olympic champion himself, having rowed on the 1964 Vesper crew that won in Tokyo, and 2011 USRowing Jack Kelly Award winner —spends an afternoon with Parker, during the preliminary phase of training for the U.S. men's eight that summer. Stowe asks thoughtful questions, and Parker gives typically thoughtful answers, as the two discuss workouts and rowing technique, as compared to previous U.S. crews as well as other rowing federations. It also includes raw audio from the launch. The crew shown, from bow to stern, is Bill Purdy, John Biglow, Charlie Altekruse, Mike Hess, Tom Woodman, Otto Stekle, Chip Lubsen, and Bruce Ibbetson, with coxswain Bob Jaugstetter. The last nine minutes of the video come from Parker's 1983 sculling camp on the Charles, with athletes Bruce Beall,...

Intérieur Sport - En 8 Majeur This week's video comes to us from the Continent, and features the two eights of French national squad athletes who made the trip over to Boston for the 49th Head Of The Charles Regatta last year. Even if you don't speak a word of French, this is 22 minutes of time well spent—from excellent shots of technical rowing, to the trip over to the U.S., to race footage from the regatta, there's much to be taken from this short film (and there's always value in seeing something familiar from a different perspective). Last year, these two crews placed a very close fourth and fifth, with the top entry (featuring several Olympians including Julien Bahain and Cedric Berrest ) just two seconds off the winning Dutch eight in a very tightly packed field. This year, France is sending another crew that includes some familiar faces from last year's effort. The lineup (c: Benjamin Manceau , 8: Benjamin Lang , 7: Julien Despres , 6: Jean-Baptiste Mac...

Joshua Langston-White on the dock (Photo: Daniel Koenig) Filmmaker Daniel Koenig is in the midst of a powerful project on rowing, and he could use a helping hand. Koenig is currently in the process of shooting a documentary on four adaptive rowing athletes who are aiming to make the U.S. national team this summer: Dan Ahr (shown in the video clip below), 2012 Paralympian Andrew Johnson (read his RR interview here ), Margaret Stran , and Joshua Langston-White . The film will serve to not only offer insight on the process of training for a national team bid, but also on adaptive rowing as a whole. We checked in with Koenig on the project, his rowing background, how you can donate to this project , and what's next. RR: What fist inspired this project? Did you have a personal connection to the sport beforehand? Daniel Koenig: I started rowing in Oklahoma City as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma and currently row with Rio Salado Rowing Club in Tempe, Arizona. I’ve alw...

The Princeton Tigers recently released the above video, which, while nameless, needs very little in the way of introduction. Suffice it to say that it is a great, inside and in-depth look at an outstanding program, and frankly an awesome training camp video from the Tigers' trip to Tampa (including the much-anticipated mustache competition, with characteristically disturbing results). "There are reminders all around of the standard that has been set through the years—a legacy of hard work, integrity, and success. It's inspiring. When you walk into the building, you immediately know that you are in a place where it is time to go to work." Not only is this rowing film a great recruiting tool, it's a fascinating look at the history of one of the most storied programs in U.S. intercollegiate rowing, and includes footage dating back to the 1920s (some of which is rather hilariously mixed with, shall we say, more contemporary music). It's also a celebration of Lo...

And the winner is... Jacksonville University Rowing ! The above video is a fantastic introduction not only to the sport, but also to the facilities and the philosophy of the JU program as a whole, touching on those aspects of rowing that can help to shape your character, and, indeed, the rest of your life. Not only does it talk training and the team, but also it addresses the academic environment for student-athletes while attending Jacksonville University. The video does this by means of interviews with both student-athletes and coaches, giving the viewer a window into all levels of the program, and is also one of few submitted for our contest to show both indoor rowing and training on the water. The primary narrator, Brad Negaard , is a benefactor of the program, a former JU coach, and son of Robert Negaard (inventor of the wing-rigger )—the current JU boathouse bears his family name . Clearly, a great deal of thought went into the production of this film, which is b...

The above film is an in-depth, inside look at Portland Women's Rowing –beautifully shot and expertly edited, this gets at the core of what rowing is all about, in a subtle, powerful way. Founded by Jeanne Niemer in 2006, Portland Women's Rowing now has a permanent place in the Portland Boathouse, alongside Station L Rowing and Rose City Rowing Club (home to Ruth Narode , who took silver at the 2012 C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints, and later backed that up with a silver medal performance at Junior Worlds in Plovdiv, Bulgaria). More on PWR can be found on the Oregon Public Broadcasting website, along with a slideshow from the 2012 Portland Fall Classic. Thanks very much to writer and filmmaker Ifanyi Bell for sending us the video! -RR

The above video, which is the third in a recent series by Olympic gold and silver medalist Xeno Müller , provides a 15-minute tech talk looking at some of the most technically sound, efficient athletes on the international rowing circuit. The final of the lightweight men's four in London was, as expected, one of the most dramatic races of the regatta, and featured a bonafide rowing legend, Eskild Ebbesen (a five-time Olympic medalist, with three golds and two bronze-medal finishes), in the stroke seat of the Danish crew. Joining the Danes in the final were the 2011 World Champions from Australia , an excellent GB crew, a surprising Swiss crew, South Africa (now legends in their own right), and The Netherlands . We all know how it played out–the comeback victory for South Africa finished off what was an epic battle, marking the first-ever Olympic rowing gold medal for RSA. In light of their accomplishment, FISA honored the crew as its Male Crew of the Year , and recently publ...

After taking gold in London, Esther Lofgren and her teammates from the U.S. women's squad have been on a whirlwind tour, most recently attending the Philadelphia premiere of the new feature film, Backwards , written, produced, and directed by Sarah Megan Thomas (who also plays one of the lead roles). Here, Esther shares a little about her experience of the premiere, which included a meeting with Thomas, as well as her thoughts on the film. Read on! Thursday night, I headed to the Philadelphia Art Museum – as famous for the "Rocky" steps out front as the amazing collection inside – for the red carpet premiere of Backwards . Joining me were teammates Sara Hendershot , from the Olympic pair, and Adrienne Martelli and Megan Kalmoe , Olympic bronze medallists in the quad. We decided to have fun with our first red carpet, and borrowed designer dresses for the occasion. I even managed to find one that was floor-length while wearing four-inch heels  We arrived on the red ...

This film showcases a number of the most important coaches in our sport today during their athletic careers, including Paul Reedy , now LW2x coach with Team GB and chief coach of London Rowing Club, in the AUS M2x, Boston University head coach Thomas Bohrer in the USA M4-, and  Robin Williams , now Team GB LM4- coach, in the GB LM8+ (and, funny enough, his biography has been conflated with that of one of his athletes, LRC's Rob Williams , on the FISA website–scroll down to where the current LM4- stroke was, evidently, winning silver at age 3), as well as current Pac-12 rivals Yaz Farooq of Stanford and UCLA's Amy Fuller Kearney , both of whom were competing at their first senior world championships in the USA W8+. The footage is high quality, and includes a great deal of slow motion, providing a very thorough look at the technique employed, as well as serving to emphasize the raw power and dynamism of our sport. These world championships took place at an extremely pivotal p...

I've not yet figured out a way to write while driving, but I'm working on it. In the meantime, the above is a video from the trip down to Philadelphia from Boston, moving on from coverage of the Head Of The Charles to the Schuylkill and the Princeton Chase this weekend. The weather men are predicting snow storms, but (fortunately) we're well equipped with waterproof gear and will be bringing you more coverage of the racing on RowingNews.com throughout the weekend–and stay up to date with @RowingNews and @rowingrelated on Twitter for updates on the action as it happens out here on Boathouse Row. More to come as the racing kicks off Saturday morning in Philadelphia. -RR

"CATCH" (The Pilot) from Richard Truter on Vimeo . This week's video is a preview of what looks to be a fantastic series on the selection for the GB LM2x during the final year of the Olympic cycle, leading up to the London Games. The well known, and very well established duo of Mark Hunter and Zach Purchase may face some challenges unknown to the rowing outsider, as a year's hiatus from the squad following Beijing, as well as illnesses have kept the two from taking on the full training and racing schedule they would otherwise have tackled, and other talented members of what is an extremely deep GB squad have made strong cases to be considered for the top lightweight event. The series will be called 'Catch,' and includes shots of both training and racing, as well as candid interviews with the athletes, as this preview shows. As we discussed in our last article, it was announced last week that Mark Hunter and Zach Purchase will be reunited to defend t...

This week's video details the Trial VIIIs racing that took place last Fall between members of the CUBC and OUBC squads -- a race that helps to determine which athletes will be in the mix for the Boat Race this Spring. The Trial VIIIs race on the same course as the Boat Race (the Tideway from Putney to Mortlake), and the event serves as one of the only true experiences of the course that both squads are allowed as they train for their time-honored battle (this year will mark the 157th running of the event). The Trial VIIIs race is an intra-squad event (i.e. CUBC 1 races CUBC 2), which is effectively one massive seat race, with two lineups from each University vying for dominance and a clear shot at the real thing. This year's test between the two arch rivals will take place on March 26th. Cambridge currently leads the series over Oxford, 80-75. Thanks to Chiara Ferrara of The Rowing Daily for spreading the word about this video, which was released last week and which boasts ...

This week's video, which I discovered on LARC's Rowing Blog , is a short documentary film that tracks the training and racing of the New Zealand men's VIII that won back-to-back World Championships in 1982 and 1983, and entered into the preparation for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as the favorite in the event. The documentary is split into six parts, and features some fantastic rowing footage, great background on Kiwi rowing that will be of interest in a year when Karapiro hosted the World Championships, and a wonderfully 1980s soundtrack. Much like the later film, 'A Fine Balance,' which tracked the US men's team during the lead-up to the 2000 Olympic Games (the US won three-straight World Titles in the VIII in 1997, 1998, and 1999), the team with the target on their backs endures some setbacks (some of them self-imposed) along the way. The athletes come from all walks of life, and the film goes a long way toward giving the modern rower a sense for a t...