2008-09 Crew Blog - Week 4

by Elissa Center - Thursday, October 9, 2008

Last weekend marked the official start of the racing season for the Mount Holyoke crew team, and it was a great time all around. It was definitely a good thing that I didn’t have any homework due early this week, because that allowed me to dedicate the entire weekend to rowing. I spent Saturday bouncing up and down in anticipation, cheering for the soccer team with some fellow rowers, cleaning my apartment and making psych-up signs for Sunday’s race. I live with two other rowers, and we’re all in the same boat, so we decided to host a boat meeting over dinner in our apartment Saturday evening. It was so much fun. It’s always great to laugh and eat and talk about rowing!

One of the novice boats launching for its first race ever. (Photo ourtesy of Stephanie Swafford)

Sunday was even more fun than Saturday, although the weather didn’t start off quite as nice as forecasted. There was apparently a “0% chance of rain,” but clouds hung overhead as we arrived at the race course. Despite attempts to deny the reality of the weather, it soon started to rain. Good thing it takes more than a little bit of rain to stop a regatta! Things went on as planned, and my first race (in the eight) was great. We passed the boat the started right in front of us and started to move closer to a few that were in front of them. We ended up taking fourth behind Division I UConn and D-III rivals Trinity and Coast Guard, who we’re looking forward to facing again at the Head of the Charles!

The skies were clear and bright by the afternoon, and I got a chance to check out a few more great races (and eat some food!) before taking off in the double for race number two. Three of the boats that were supposed to be in our race didn’t end up showing up, which was a shame, but we ended up beating Coast Guard to take first. We even passed a couple of boats from the high school boys’ race that started right ahead of ours! About twelve hours after the day started, I finally got back to my room, exhausted but happy. Good thing there was no homework to finish, because I was having a hard enough time staying awake long enough to take a quick shower before climbing in bed!