RowingRelated

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...

This week's featured video playlist comes to us from our friends at RowHub , and is an eight-part series shot from the launch, with Mike Spracklen coaching the Russian national rowing team through a translator. Each video offers a slightly different look at training and technique, in a variety of boat classes (from singles to eights) and at a variety of cadences (from steady state to race pace). All in all, it's a brief but interesting, inside look at Spracklen's new group, and if you watch carefully, there's much that can be learned from each clip. Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestions via Twitter , or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages. And for more rowing video content, check out RowHub's expanding video archive, as well as the RR ' Video ' page. -RR

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...

Twitter challenge: #rowingin5words Last week, given all of the five-word challenges—i.e., sum up a concept or experience in five words—floating around Twitter (most notably, #2014in5words—a hashtag encouraging people to reflect on meaningful moments over the past year), we thought it only right to challenge the rowing community to the same test of brevity (the soul of wit, as you well remember). And, the results were suitably impressive. We were delighted to see people from all over the world taking part, from national team athletes and Olympians to juniors and even well-known rowing brands, reflecting the international nature of the sport. Here's a look at some of our favorites from #rowingin5words so far. #rowingin5words Thanks to everyone who has participated—it has been very entertaining to watch! While we might not quite have gotten rowing to 'trend' worldwide on Twitter, we're going to say it was pretty close there for a minute. -RR

This week's video comes to us via the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, and features an inside look at the recent quad camp there, which included Craftsbury Green Racing Project's John Graves , Potomac's Willy Cowles , and California Rowing Club scullers Derek Johnson and Hans Struzyna . The camp was put together by CRC head coach Bernhard Stomporowski , and, in the words of John Graves, served as a way to encourage greater collaboration between clubs and training centers looking to develop elite athletes and crews. Here's an excerpt from a post Graves' wrote for his blog, Jaunting , about the camp: "The majority of our rowing was low intensity, but we did a couple of 3k pieces with some of the other boats at the TC; most notably the women's 2x and light women's 2x who have showed medalist speed over the past couple of years." This allowed them to compare some percentages, and get a sense for how the lineup performed by t...

Kingston Rowing Club (Photo courtesy of Jack Carlson) Recently, we caught up with Jack Carlson about his favorite holiday gifts for rowers this year, and here, we go behind the scenes with Jack during the making of Rowing Blazers . And, included below are several never-before-published outtakes from the book, including U.S. national team vet and Trinity alum John Graves (read his RR interview here ), as well as that most famous of rowing duos, the Winklevoss Twins . Here's what Jack had to say. RR: Putting together a book is never a small undertaking, and the finished product that you've created is stunning—for each photo that made it into the final version, how many hours would you estimate went into its production? Jack Carlson: Some of the shoots took hours—not including, of course, the time it took to prepare, research and travel to sometimes remote locations (ever been to Groningen?). But everyone was so patient and so great in front of the camera. Trinity C...

Newell Boathouse, from the 2015 RR Calendar (Illustration: B. Kitch) There's a new RowingRelated Calendar hot off the presses for 2015 , featuring artwork by RR editor Bryan Kitch. There are a few key rowing dates thrown in, as well as U.S., U.K., Canadian, French, and German holidays to suit the worldwide rowing community. It's not going to break the bank (or even the student budget) at $15, and it can be shipped internationally. So, here's your chance to support the RowingRelated cause, and get some (practical) artwork in return! Take a look at the preview below (for mobile users, click here to view the item on Lulu.com ), and keep an eye on our social media outlets for more peeks into the calendar over the coming days. In our extremely biased opinion, it's the ideal gift for rowers of all ages. You can buy it now here . Thanks! -RR

This week's featured video comes to us from Newcastle University Boat Club , and gives an inside look at their recent trip to Italy to race some Italian international crews, with loads on on-the-water shots thanks to no shortage of GoPro cameras (not to mention the kind of 'mileage that makes champions,' as the NUBC squad took the opportunity to defrost and fully embrace the idea of 'suns out, guns out'). The soundtrack could fit nicely into our Winter 2015 Erg(o) Mixtape , and the trip was a successful one for the Newcastle first eight, not least because of the scenery around Lake Sabaudia.