Head of the Charles 2010  

written by Anne Jane

Excitement started to build around the Head of the Charles when the rowers were chosen for the Club 8+ entry in September. While there were only 8 rowers chosen, it felt that a little bit of all the rest of us were in that boat through their many hours of practice.

All that work paid off with an 11th place finish out of a very competitive field of 30 and a guaranteed place in next year’s race. Additionally there were great races in the Directors Challenge Quad event with Eva and friends finishing 5th and Katie, Jen and Toby finishing 10th. They all represented TRRA and our team well.

You will have to check with the rowers to find out which was harder, the actual race or surviving the high gusting winds during their practice Friday! Fortunately although still windy, the conditions Saturday and Sunday improved.

Below is a photo of the MW Club 8+ just before their race. Maureen Busis captured it well:  "What I love is that it shows that beautiful, quiet moment before a race, where each rower commits herself to her teammates and the race at hand."




Pittsburgh had other successes with the MM 50+ finishing 15th out of 34 boats and earning their automatic entry for 2011. CMU women's 4+, with Gabbi our summer coxswain finished 8th and a Pitt men's 4+ finished 12th. Central Catholic had a great race finishing 5th out of 76 and the TRRA junior girls finishing 22nd.
Thanks to Joanne Anderson for her reporting which formed the basis of this post!

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Head of the Speakmon 2010  

written by Anne Jane

Thanks to Maureen Busis for this nice recap of the Speakmon Regatta:

Congratulations to our rowers who competed Saturday in the Head of the Speakmon.  We enjoyed a beautiful autumn day with blue skies and temperatures ranging from crisp to warm.   Speakmon changed the parking rules this year allowing parking along the park road which was nice for those that knew – for those of us that did not, it was carrying the boats as usual.  We persevered though, with great cooperation from everyone (ie, all hands on the Brittney!).
We had some close races and a few medals were won by mere seconds, reinforcing that every stroke counts.  

Special thanks to our race organizers Rebecca "I see the bridge" Williams and Sue Cohen.  When it comes to dedication they win the award for working to the end to find us coxswains.  We had two great coxswains from OSU, Regina and Elena, both graduates of Pittsburgh high schools

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