RowingRelated

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...

The men's sweep Great Eight training on the Charles (Photo: Sean Wolf) With the 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta looming ever larger on the horizon, the athletes and coaches have already begun to show up and start preparing for the main event. Earlier today, resident Charles' expert Sean Wolf of Rowing Illustrated captured several photos of the men's sweepers Great Eight—a crew that we highlighted in our Champ Eight piece recently, and which consists of Joshua Dunkley-Smith (AUS), Olivier Siegelaar (NED), Hamish Bond (NZL), Richard Schmidt (GER), Conlin McCabe (CAN), Henrik Rummel (USA), Francesco Fossi (ITA), and Jacob Barsoe (DEN), with Jack Carlson (USA) at coxswain. Looking at the photo, it appears that the above lineup has stuck, for now at least. Let the pre-race banter continue!

Newell Boathouse (Photo: B. Kitch) The 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta is just a few days away. I find I can't think of that without thinking of Harry Parker , who coached for more than half a century on that very river, and whose name became virtually synonymous with Harvard Crew. Going through some archives recently, I ran across this short audio interview that I did with Parker, when still a very green reporter, just after the 2011 Head Of The Charles—the beginning of his 50th year at the helm. It followed a morning training session on the launch with him, and I was keen to learn more about his experience of change in the sport over his long and decorated career. Listening to it again, I found that it continues to be revelatory and inspiring. I hope you feel the same way, too.

This week's video ought to get you ready for racing—the newly launched Rowing Champions League takes the sport to the heart of Berlin on the River Spree, where crews battle it out over a short 350m course in tournament fashion. The event featured an impressive list of international entries, with teams from 10 European nations participating (and Olympians in the midst of the action—check out London 2012 gold medalist Kristof Wilke sitting in the four seat of the Crefelder Rowing Club eight at 1:36 ). While it may be the polar opposite of the long (and often winding) head racing season, what it lacks in slow-twitch muscle fibers it makes up for in raw intensity. And, you can learn more about the physics of the event thanks to this post from Rowing in Motion —a rowing telemetry system that was on board with the winning crew. And there was much jubilation. To the winner go the spoils (Photo courtesy of Rowing Champions League) Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?...

Cristo Redentor, Rio (Illustration: B. Kitch) While there may still be just under two years until the Games begin in Rio, the Canadian and British rowing teams have made the trip already to explore the venue (and, most importantly, take some pretty kick-ass photos of one of the world's most beautiful cities). While they've not been out on the water, even the land training has come with some amazing views. And, what better way to visualize yourself on the start line than to actually go see it, before the main event?

Vlahos and Cal throw out the first pitch (Photo: B. Kitch) As I was going through Instagram earlier today, I ran across a very familiar photo posted by U.S. national team coxswain, and 2012 Olympian, Zach Vlahos. The photo comes from my first-ever assignment for then Rowing News (now ROWING Magazine ), which was to cover the Cal men's varsity eight's trip to AT&T Park for the old version of the magazine's website. The article is no longer online, but I've included the copy below. A big thanks to Chip Davis once again for the opportunity—for a Bay Area native and a lifelong Giants fan, it was a evening to remember.

The Charles is just around the corner (Photo: © B. Kitch) The 50th Head Of The Charles Regatta is now just a few short days away, and while they're perfectly capable of running their own hype machine, we can't help but get amped when we look at the lineups for the men's and women's 'Great Eights' this year. The Women's Championship Eight will again see a crew of top-flight scullers take on a crew of elite sweep rowers from the national training center, and the men's event features not just one, but two Great Eights (one of sweep rowers, one of scullers), as well as national team crews from the U.S. and France. In a word: Stacked. Let's take a closer look.

This week's video is a beautiful example of the kind of sculling technique that might just get you a sub-6 minute result, and a world championship title. At least, it worked for the Sinkovic brothers . This dynamic duo not only scored their first world gold medal in Amsterdam (as a double, that is—the brothers had won gold as part of the Croatian M4x last year, following a silver in London), but also did so ahead of a tightly packed field in a time of 6:00.52—only slightly off their own World Best Time in the event from the A/B semifinal (a 5:59.72) at the Bosbaan. While we're all getting our long and low strokes in this fall, it's important to think about consistency of technique and execution. The Sinkovic brothers stressed this idea in our VOTW last week, and here Martin and Valent are shown applying that theory to the fullest. And there's more good news. The Sinkovici are coming to the Head Of The Charles this year , taking on several other very competitive crew...