TRRA MW Celebrates Success at the Head of the Charles!  

written by Jen B

Congratulations to the TRRA Masters Women who competed at the 44th annual Head of the Charles Regatta this past weekend 10/18-19 in Boston, MA. The team had entries in the Women's Club 8+, Women's Masters 8+, and also two quads in the Directors Challenge.

The Club 8+ finished in 5th place after starting 43rd out of 45 in the bow draw. Sonya Berkovich coxed an extremely successful course passing 6 other crews while navigating the many turns and bridges. Their finishing time was 17:40.489 which secured a medal and a guaranteed entry for next year! The winning lineup included: Anne Nelson, Katie Spiker, Georgia Bullen, Jill Markl, Justine Aylmer, Franny Ritchie, Jenn Langzettel, and Kristin Boyle. Well done ladies!!!

The Masters 8+ finished in 22nd place and was coxed by Betsy Mills. The lineup included: Jen Brogan, Jackie Goldblum, Eva Szigethy, Luanne Suplick, Vern Keenan, Jeanne Odenheimer, Maureen Busis, and Joanne Anderson.

Eva Szigethy and Katie Stutz each sponsored Women's Quad entries for the Directors Challenge. They finished 4th and 6th respectively out of a field of 15! Ellen Romsaas stroked a quad for Avalon - Maidens of the Mist and also volunteered as a backup timer for Saturday's races.

Way to put the TRRA name out there Masters Women!! A lot of hard work and dedication was put into preparing for and executing this race by the rowers, coxswains, and Coaches Don Heckenstaller and Jeff Lowe. Please congratulate everyone as you see them around the boathouse.



Read More...

I know there is a BUOY around here somewhere...  

written by Jen B

The changes to daylight savings time means more rows in the dark for us Morning Masters rowers. Whether you are a rower, coxswain, or steering a sculling shell you need to be aware of those giant metal red and green buoys out there on the river. They are not lighted so you should know of their general location as you navigate up and down the river.

This info has been neatly drafted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I have included links to the Navigation Maps of the areas that we typically travel during practice. In addition, everyone should have attended the fall TRRA Safety Meeting and possess a standard level of river safety and navigation knowlege as it pertains to the Allegheny River and its traffic patterns.

If at any time you have been put into a situation and feel unsure about coxing, rowing, or steering it is your responsibility to use common sense and sound judgement to express this to your coach and boatmates prior to leaving the boathouse. Do not proceed onto the river and "wing-it" so to speak.

As far as the buoys are concerned - here are the maps. What you are looking for on there are the green and purple diamonds. The green diamonds represent the green buoys and the purple diamonds represent red buoys. The general rule is to stay "Right of RED" when going upstream and "Left of GREEN" when going downstream.

The masters women typically travel a consistent pattern upstream to Lock/Dam #2 (near the Highland Park Bridge) and return downstream past the end of Herr's Island. For this traffic pattern you will notice that there are 5 red buoys in the upstream direction (1 prior to the 62nd St. Br. and 4 after) and 3 green buoys downstream (all prior to the 40th St. Br).

Please take a few minutes to view the maps below. Clicking on an image will open a large readable version of the document.







Read More...

What do you do with YOUR medals?  

written by Jen B


Everyone loves to bring home a little hardware from a race... but what do you do with it?


Get out your camera it's time for show n' tell. Feel free to post comments or better yet if you have photos send them to Jen B or Luanne and we'll post them right here for all to see your shining shrine of glory!!


To kick it off... here's where Jeanne O. keeps her medals!! Can anyone top this???

Here's Jeanne's story....I joined the Masters Womens team five years ago and have participated in quite a few races, both during the sprint season and head racing. I have been fortunate and enjoyed the fruits of competition. That is, the box of medals accumulating dust.


What to do with them??? The choices are numerous but it needed to be just the right one. I am certainly no interior decorator and few things in my house match what the designers like and approve. But I did want to display my accomplishment in a unique way. A shadow box with labels would be a quick and easy way, but just not unique enough for me.


One afternoon, the perfect display hit me! My husband is an avid hunter, enjoying his sport and displaying his trophies in a way that he can enjoy them. After “bagging” his second buck in as many years, he insisted on hanging them on the wall. Ding -- the light came on!! Why not just use the rack on the proud buck. It was perfect.


Race after race I proudly added my medals to my husband’s trophy. Unfortunately, the weight of all the medals has since pulled it off the wall. Fortunately, both the bucks are now hanging on the wall up at the hunting camp…where they should be. My medals are back in the box gathering dust until I come up with a new idea.

Read More...