USRowing Masters National Championship Recap

This year the US Rowing Masters National Championship Regatta was held on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA. The lake has a reputation for changeable weather and it did not disappoint. TRRA sent three teams: Evening Mixed Masters, the Masters Men and the Masters Women meaning a very full trailer. Despite an unexpected trip to an Emergency Room for the trailer driver to get stitches, the boats made it safely there. Parking was not available at the main lot so TRRA set up at the Donahue Rowing Center across the Lake. In some ways it diluted the Nationals experience, particularly since we were far from the finish but as the days went by people figured out how to quickly get to the finish and began to appreciate the luxury of the extra space as well as the less frenzied atmosphere.

TRRA MW rowed hard but had some tough breaks - in several heats we missed making it to the finals only to be one of the faster boats overall or the boat was just fractions of a second behind third place. The weather also played its part - on Friday many of the finals were cancelled due to storms and the water continued to be rough the rest of the weekend as storms blew through. Still as the days went on MW began to find our rhythm, started to win some medals and row some fast times! Overall the team brought home a silver in the Open A 4X event, a bronze in a nail-biting final for the Club C 8+ and a bronze on the last day for the Open E 4+ boat.

There were lots of firsts for this regatta - first Nationals, first singles, quads, and doubles and the wining E 4+ boat had never rowed together before. And there were memorable moments,  many punctuated by Alyssa's wild cheering from the sidelines - a great encouragement to pull as hard as you possibly could. This was also the race that Chris Ryan took a bow ball in the back! Someone called it rowing camp and for this first timer it was that and more!

Nationals