Cranberry Crunch Results are in!

NBCR had a fantastic day overall at the Indoor Race that Cape Cod Rowing hosted yesterday. I think all of our athletes, young and old, bested their times and I'm pretty sure all of them enjoyed themselves. A few might have surprised themselves and done better than expected, and I think they were pleased with their coach as Mohammed hopped on for the Men's 500 meter sprint - jeans and all! There were actually 3 guys that weren't there to row but hopped on in their jeans, including Mike Baker, the head coach for CCR. The athletes loved this and it really got the cheering going.

A special shout-out goes to Andrew Pereira for not only winning both the Youth Boys 2k, and the Overall 500 meter sprint, but having THE fastest time of the day of anyone! Also, Lauren Dufresne won her event as a Flyweight youth rower!! Congrats to you both and job well done to all of you NBCR rowers!!

Below are the results for all participants, but I've highlighted the NBCR athletes in bold:

EVENT ONE: Men’s and Boy’s 2K Results 12:45 PM

Place Lane Rower Time Distance Split

1 2 Andrew 06:31.0 2000 1:37.7 *Youth Open weight

2 1 David 06:42.2 2000 1:40.6

3 3 Masahiro 07:12.8 2000 1:48.2 *Men’s Lightweight

4 5 Jay 07:21.4 2000 1:50.3

5 4 John 07:47.4 2000 1:56.9 *Lightweight Veteran Master

6 7 Zack 07:53.6 2000 1:58.4 *Youth Lightweight

7 8 Holden 08:58.6 2000 2:14.7 *Youth Flyweight

8 6 Matthew 09:02.6 2000 2:15.6 *Youth Flyweight

EVENT TWO: Women's 2K Results 01:05 PM

Place Lane Rower Time Distance Split

1 2 Carol 08:12.1 2000 2:03.0

2 3 Christine 08:16.7 2000 2:04.2

3 7 Judy 08:31.6 2000 2:07.9

4 1 Amy 08:46.5 2000 2:11.6

5 4 Mary 08:58.8 2000 2:14.7

6 5 Terri 08:59.0 2000 2:14.7

7 6 Kacie 09:04.9 2000 2:16.2

8 8 Pat 09:45.2 2000 2:26.3

EVENT THREE: Women’s Lightweight 2K 01:21 PM

Place Lane Rower Time Distance Split

1 6 Karen 08:13.0 2000 2:03.3

2 3 Jill 08:33.8 2000 2:08.5

3 8 Fran 08:50.1 2000 2:12.5

4 5 Sarah 09:15.7 2000 2:18.9

5 2 Diane 09:17.8 2000 2:19.4

6 1 Susan 09:31.6 2000 2:22.9

7 7 April 09:38.6 2000 2:24.7

8 4 Molly 09:41.7 2000 2:25.4

EVENT FOUR: Youth Girl’s 2K 01:38 PM

Place Lane Rower Time Distance Split

1 2 Paige 07:36.1 2000 1:54.0

2 5 Gabby 07:51.8 2000 1:58.0

3 3 Krystal 08:07.2 2000 2:01.8

4 4 Danielle 08:31.4 2000 2:07.8

5 6 Sam C. 08:38.9 2000 2:09.7

6 1 Jennifer 09:03.3 2000 2:15.8

EVENT FIVE: Youth Girl’s Light and Flyweight 2K 1:56 PM

Place Lane Rower Time Distance Split

1 1 Lauren L 8:10.2 2000 2:02.6

2 2 Anastasia 8:36.6 2000 2:09.2

3 4 Shelly 8:52.3 2000 2:13.1

4 6 Maggie 9:01.8 2000 2:15.4

5 8 Lauren D 9:06.7 2000 2:16.7 * Flyweight

6 3 Mei Lee 9:13.5 2000 2:18.4

7 5 Libby 9:27.0 2000 2:21.8

8 7 Grace 9:32.5 2000 2:23.1 * Flyweight

EVENT SIX: Men’s and Boy’s 500 meter sprints 02:51 PM

Place Lane Rower Time

1 3 Andrew 01:28.5 * Youth Open weight

2 7 Mike 01:30.5

3 2 Masa 01:34.4 * Men’s Lightweight

4 1 Matthew 01:35.9

5 4 Jay 01:37.8

6 5 Mohammad 01:41.0

7 6 Jeff 01:47.0

8 8 Holden 02:06.9 * Youth Flyweight

EVENT SEVEN: Women’s 500 meter sprints 02:57 PM

Place Lane Rower Time

1 2 Judy 01:54.0

2 1 Carol 01:54.1

3 5 Christine 01:54.7

4 7 Karen 01:56.9 * Lightweight

5 4 Amy 01:57.8

5 8 Fran 01:57.8 * Lightweight

7 3 Cheryl 01:59.8

8 6 Deborah 02:05.0

EVENT EIGHT: Youth Girl’s 500 meter sprints 03:02 PM

Place Lane Rower Time

1 2 Paige 01:42.9

2 1 Gabby 01:44.4

3 3 Krystal 01:49.4

4 4 Danielle 01:52.5

5 5 Jen 02:04.0

EVENT NINE: Youth Girl’s Lightweight 500 meter sprints 03:11 PM

Place Lane Rower Time

1 2 Lauren L 01:51.9

2 4 Anastasia 01:57.9

3 5 Michelle 01:59.1

4 3 Mei Lee 02:03.8

5 1 Lauren D 02:06.5 * Flyweight

5 6 Libby 02:06.5

EVENT TEN: Double’s 500 meter relays 03:23 PM

Place Lane Rower Time *See Below for Teams

1 5 Matt 01:45.9

2 4 Peter 01:47.1

3 6 Jill 02:00.6

4 8 Shelly 02:00.8

5 3 Nancy 02:02.8

6 2 Sarah 02:09.2

7 1 Terri 02:10.6

7 7 Libby 02:10.6

*Mixed Double Team Matt and Jill – 1:45.9 and 2:00.6 = 1:53.2 average split

*Mixed Double Team Peter and Nancy – 1:47.1 and 2:02.8 = 1:54.9 average split

*Women’s Team Shelly and Libby – 2:00.8 and 2:10.6 = 2:05.7 average split

*Women’s Team Sarah and Terry – 2:09.2 and 2:10.6 = 2:09.9 average split

EVENT ELEVEN: Women’s Quad Relay 03:33 PM

Place Lane Boat Name

1 2 CCR Distance = 500 Total Boat Average = 2:02.0

Lane2-1 534 1:54.0 Carol

Lane2-2 498 2:02.3 Fran

Lane2-3 519 1:57.5 Judy

Lane2-4 449 2:15.8 Grace

2 1 NBCR Distance = 500 Total Boat Average = 2:10.7

Lane1-1 490 2:14.1 Pat

Lane1-2 511 2:08.5 Diane

Lane1-3 506 2:09.8 Kacie

Lane1-4 493 2:10.2 Sue

*NBCR - Not sure if your boat sat in this order

EVENT TWELVE: Youth Women’s Quad Relay 3:39 PM

Place Lane Boat Name

1 1 CCR Distance= 500 Total Boat Average = 1:51.9

Lane1-1 510 1:49.5

Lane1-2 524 1:46.6

Lane1-3 483 1:55.6

Lane1-4 485 1:55.4

*Not sure of erg assignment for rowers: Gabby, Paige, Krystal, Lauren

2 2 Laselle Distance= 500 Total Boat Average = 2:10.0

Lane2-1 529 2:02.7

Lane2-2 473 2:17.3

Lane2-3 495 2:11.3

Lane2-4 505 2:08.6

*Not sure of erg assignments for rowers: Jill, Sarah, Terri, Molly

WINNER SUMMARY – NICE JOB EVERYONE!!!

MEN’S 2K HEAVYWEIGHT DAVID CHURBUCK 6:42

MEN’S 2K LIGHTWEIGHT MASAHIRO ARAKAWA 7:12

BOY’S 2K HEAVYWEIGHT ANDREW PEREIRA 6:31

BOY’S 2K LIGHTWEIGHT ZACK HESSE 7:53

BOY’S 2K FLYWEIGHT HOLDEN RAMMAGE 8:58

WOMEN’S 2K HEAVYWEIGHT CAROL MCILVANE 8:12

WOMEN’S 2K LIGHTWEIGHT KAREN SHUSTERMAN 8:13

GIRL’S 2K HEAVYWEIGHT PAIGE RYDER 7:36

GIRL’S 2K LIGHTWEIGHT LAUREN LOGAN 8:10

GIRL’S 2K FYLWEIGHT LAUREN DUFRESNE 9:06

MEN’S 500 METER SPRINT FIRST PLACE ANDREW PEREIRA 1:28

MEN’S 500 METER SPRINT SECOND PLACE MIKE BAKER 1:30

MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT 500 METER SPRINT MASAHIRO ARAKAWA 1:34

BOY’S 500 METER SPRINT HOLDEN RAMMAGE 2:06

WOMEN’S 500 METER SPRINT FIRST PLACE JUDY EITAS 1:54.0

WOMEN’S 500 METER SPRINT SECOND PLACE CAROL MCILVANE 1:54.1

WOMEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT 500 METER SPRINT FIRST PLACE KAREN SHUSTERMAN 1:56

WOMEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT 500 METER SPRINT SECOND PLACE FRAN MICHAUD 1:57

COLLEGE WOMEN 500 METER SPRINT GABBY HAYWARD 1:44

YOUTH GIRL’S 500 METER SPRINT FIRST PLACE PAIGE RYDER 1:42

YOUTH GIRL’S 500 METER SPRINT SECOND PLACE KRYSTAL CAPPOLA 1:49

YOUTH GIRL’S LIGHTWEIGHT 500 METER SPRINT FIRST PLACE LAUREN LOGAN 1:51

YOUTH GIRL’S LIGHTWEIGHT 500 METER SPRINT SECOND PLACE ANASTASIA LIVESAY 1:57

MIXED DOUBLES 500 METER RELAY MATT AND JILL AVE SPLIT 1:53

WOMEN’S DOUBLES 500 METER RELAY SHELLY AND LIBBY 2:05.7

WOMEN’S QUADS TEAM CCR AVE SPLIT 2:02

YOUTH WOMEN’S QUADS TEAM CCR AVE SPLIT 1:51

Cranberry Crunch - here we come!

That's right, we've got another indoor race coming up on Sunday. It's hosted by Cape Cod Rowing and it's in Barnstable in the late morning/early afternoon. We'll have more of the kids racing here as well as many of the adults racing. Even a newbie or two are considering racing already! Come on out and cheer NBCR on!!!

Snow...again??

Well this sure is different than California winter rowing, that's for sure. Sheesh! But on the bright side, we've had a few more newbies start training with our indoor group. Hopefully they like the challenge and stick around to get in a boat this April. Seems that our new location on the track at the YMCA has been good for marketing!

If you're interested in rowing, you can sign up on our website or just show up to a practice. The schedule is on the website if you're wondering where and when to show up. See ya there!!

Wonderful Support

After following up with a few people that I met at the Row New York conference, I'm overwhelmed by the amazing support from some great people.

David Banks was the guest speaker and he's a world class athlete. He's been on the US National Team since 2008 after having graduated from Standford University. He's competed (and medaled) several times at the World Rowing Championships and Rowing World Cup. He's behind our efforts and is willing to be a resource for us as well as our athletes. He can give the kids great insight and tell them what it's really like to be a top level athlete in the sport of rowing.

Richard Butler is the Inclusion Manager for US Rowing and his job is to support outreach programs and further the effort to diversify the sport of rowing. He's very interested in what we're doing down here in New Bedford and we aim to collaborate on a number of topics. He's running a program across the country called "America Rows" and I hope we can be the host organization for the 2012 event.

Good stuff happening here, people! Get on board now!! :)

Row New York

Many of you are aware of the various programs that Community Rowing Inc. up in Boston have, notably the G-Row program. G-Row brings rowing to inner city girls that otherwise would not have the opportunity to row. In it's decade of operating, all of the girls that have stuck with G-Row have gone on to college.

More impressive, G-Row gave the inspiration for Row New York which basically does the same thing for girls in New York City. This weekend, Row NY hosted a conference about outreach programs. It included how RNY got started, the problems they ran into, the lessons they learned, and how the very successful program now operates. I found it to be incredibly insightful and the people I met there were great. The staff at RNY are very passionate not only about the girls, but about what they do. I was very impressed with the fervor with which they all do their jobs and how fun they seem to make all the work.

New Bedford Community Rowing isn't G-Row or Row New York, but we ARE trying to bring rowing to kids that otherwise would not have the opportunity. There are more and more of these programs popping up around the country and this is fantastic news!

They say that you can't throw money at a problem to fix it, and for the most part I completely agree. However, with the Rowing Outreach programs, I may have to disagree. People want to get involved and already are. The kids are interested in rowing and what it can lead to. The water awaits, and many cities (certainly New Bedford) are supportive of the endeavors. But the funding is the hard part to find. Sponsors are the missing link to allow the programs to buy boats, build a boathouse, acquire ergs, pay coaches and tutors. These programs change lives and there is no question about that. Now if we can just find the donors! I think we may just be the exception to the above saying...

Thanks for all of the wonderful staff at Row New York: Amanda Kraus, Previn Chandraratna, Kathleen Klock, Melissa Pancoast, Jennie Trayes, Nathan Young, Michael Eichler and Ryan McCarthy. You were all great this weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it!

YMCA new location!

No, we haven't left the New Bedford YMCA. But we have moved locations within the YMCA. We are no longer in the gym for the morning class and in the racquetball court for the youth and evening class. Tara Pacheco had a brilliant idea of a new location that would work a bit better for all involved. Now we're upstairs in the corner of the track area where we can store the ergs and keep a few of our belongings. The racquetball courts were very echoey and some of the kids said they felt like they were in an insane asylum because of the very tall, very white, no handles/windows! Ha ha...maybe they just need to be put into one.. Also, the lights in the courts were motion activated so if the rowers weren't moving in the right spot, the lights would go off. So while it was a great space to get started in (thank you, YMCA!), I think the track area is better for us. There will also be increased traffic around us so people will see that there is rowing now! Flyers are being made so that any interested parties will have information at their fingertips.

This picture features some of our youth program - from left to right we have Andrew Pereira, Coach Briana Blood (standing), Danielle Lopez, Matthew Dufresne, Lauren Dufresne, and Tyler Hemingway. [kinda perfect that we row under the word 'drive'... :) ]

Andrew Pereira - Novice Youth NBCR rower

Hello! I hope all of you have had a great weekend and enjoyed the MLK holiday. This weekend was a good one for us here at NBCR. We have winter training going on right now and the first of 3 indoor races was on Saturday, hosted by CRI up in Brighton. Unfortunately, we didn't have a large turnout to go up there, but there are 2 more races still to come.

We did have one of the youth rowers make the trip along with his mom, sister, coach and myself in tow. Andrew Pereira started rowing with us this summer and he's currently a junior at New Bedford High School. He's been working very hard and coming to practice regularly, even while recovering from an injury. He has committed himself and it's begun to pay off.

Last monday he pulled his very first 2,000 meter test piece and did a fantastic job. He pulled a 6:46 which is great for a high school boy, particularly a novice. Andrew is 6'5", 220 lbs, so he's definitely got the rowers build, which helps! Less than a week later, CRI hosted the AIR-C indoor rowing race and he took 11 seconds off of his time! He pulled a 6:35 this weekend!! Of all the boys entered in the race (26), I believe Andrew was the only novice boy. He placed THIRD among them all, 1.9 seconds off of first place, 1.6 seconds off of second.

In addition to an exceptional job, Andrew didn't stop there. The head coach of the Boston University Men's Crew Team was in attendance so I went and spoke with him about Andrew. Due to NCAA restrictions, the coach couldn't talk to Andrew there at CRI so we set up a tour of the BU boathouse for later in the day. After breakfast his mom Maria, sister Kristen, coach Briana Blood, and myself all went with him to tour the beautiful boathouse (sadly, Andrew's Dad, John had to work on Saturday otherwise he surly would've been there).

With all of the snow, it may seem like it would be hard to appreciate in full what the boathouse has to offer. That wasn't the case, however - the facility is gorgeous and the equipment filling it is also top notch. It was clear that Andrew would enjoy the time he'd spend there. The coach was very informative about what the grades and testing scores would need to be and what level of commitment Andrew would have to give. So far, none of it is outside the realm of what Andrew has already done, so I see absolutely no reason why he wouldn't be a wonderful addition to the BU team.

There are more schools and more opportunities out there, but this first one was a fantastic look into the bright future Andrew has. He has a great work ethic, positive attitude, and raw talent as an athlete. Keep an ear and eye out for this kid - you'll see him again and he'll continue to impress us all.

Truly a job well done, Andrew - we are all so proud of you. Keep up the good work!

Winter Workouts

Ugh...so I've gone to a practice or two 1) to see how things are going, and 2) because I need to get back in shape. Mohammed is a slave driver, let me tell you! For my second practice with him I landed on stadium day. yaaayyyyy... 3 sets of 25 hurts! But man are we gonna be a strong team this spring!

The picture is of the stairs at the YMCA. Big ones on the left, little steps on the right. 16 of those suckers is more than ya think! But it's actually fun and the rowers are great to workout with. Come try it!

Winter Training

One of our coaches for the adult team, Mohammed Jafri, has given a training program for the months of January and February. We've now posted this on the website so you can peek to see what's in store at practice on any given day, or for those of you training on your own, you can follow along so we're on a similar page when we meet again in April to hit the water.

You can find the links if you go to the website (www.newbedfordcommunityrowing.org) and in the top left, look for TEAMS. Good luck and happy training to all!

Trivia Night a success!

Well, the snow storm definitely had an impact on the number of people that came to our Trivia Throwdown, but it was still a success and I'd say we had about 25 people in attendance last night. Andy with Trivia Buff did a great job but I have to say...personally I found the questions hard!! Our team had myself, a couple of coaches, a musician/movie buff, and a couple of others. Yet somehow, our team came in DEAD LAST! Ugh... Congrats to the teams that did a much better job!! And thanks very much to Rose Alley Ale House, and to Cork Wine and Tapas Bar for donating prizes and participating!!

Remember - the second Tuesday of every month you'll find us at Rose Alley for the Trivia Throwdown. Teams of 2-6 people, $10 per person (in support of NBCR) and prizes for the top 3 teams. We raised $250 last night and if we can raise $3-400 more, we can purchase TWO NEW ergs!!!! Yippee!!!!

Great News!!

More good news, folks...I got a wonderful call from Gail Silberstein last night. Many of you may remember her from the college night we had. She and Maura Glandorf were the women that hosted it. They're the founders of Rowers Edge (see previous post!)

In any case, Gail's father is a trustee for a fund that wishes to give us a $1000 check toward the purchase of a new ergometer!!!! Isn't that fantastic?? Ergs run for about $900 new, but sometimes you can find used ones cheaper. I've looked recently and so far the best I've seen is about $750. However, with CRASH B's coming up, you can buy one of the ergs that are only used for that day at a discount somewhere a little less than $800.

SO - here is my challenge to all of you out there:

Tonight we have our Trivia Throwdown at Rose Alley Ale House at 7pm (don't worry - the snow isn't coming until the wee hours of Wednesday morning!) The money that we can raise from the $10 donations to play, plus the $1000 will be combined. Our goal is $1600 to buy TWO NEW ERGS!!! (okay, slightly used for just one day!) If we don't raise $600 tonight at the Trivia Throwdown, who's willing to chip in to make up the difference?? ANY amount will work - $5, $10, $20. Right now we as a club only own 2 machines and they're older models. It would be fantastic to take this wonderful gift and turn it into not just one NEW erg, but TWO!!! The rowers work very hard and they deserve to have the best we can give them. Plus...hopefully many more of you will start rowing with us and you deserve new equipment too!

Thank you Gail Silberstein and all of you that support NBCR!!!!

Rowers Edge website

http://www.rowersedge.com/

Provide guidance, support and advice to rowers and parents on a personalized basis to achieve the best possible match for the rower/coxswain.

Gail and Maura were the two consultants that came down to New Bedford back in November to talk to our kids, parents, and coaches about how to navigate the process for looking at colleges that offer rowing. They were a great help and can help you too!

Racing Schedule posted!

Here's a link to our website with our winter indoor race information - come cheer us on!!

http://www.newbedfordcommunityrowing.org/teams/racing-schedule/

High Schools

Today I had a great meeting at The Mayor's Office with Matt Morrissey from the NB EDC, Bruce Smith from CRI, Briana Blood, our youth coach, and the Athletic Directors from 3 area high schools. Ryan Silvia from Bishop Stang High School, Jeff Caron from Dartmouth High School, and Mike Correia from New Bedford High School were all there. We missed Voc-Tech and Fairhaven but I'm sure we'll get to meet with them at some point too.

Hopefully we'll get some steady access to the kids on campus and that will help with our recruiting. We're looking for any and all kids that would like to try rowing - especially kids that haven't ever done sports before. You don't have to be a major athlete or know how to row at all! We can teach you everything you need to know.

Any other schools that have kids interested - we'd LOVE to get you involved as well!

Erg racing

This is the season of indoor racing and NBCR is no different. This morning our adult team did their third 2k race piece and AGAIN they all took time off from their last scores. Steady improvement is great, but to beat the previous time after coming off the holidays is fantastic! I'm so proud of all of them and I'm sure the evening group has their next 2k coming up.

The youth program is also doing some testing and the kids are really figuring out how to be effective on the erg. Scores are being submitted to college coaches and hopefully they will lead to some official visits to colleges this spring.

January 30th, Cape Cod Rowing is hosting an indoor rowing competition (Cranberry Crunch, as they call it) and we'll most likely participate in that. It'll be a great trial run for the C.R.A.S.H. B's in Boston on February 20th which is what our training program has them all working toward. Come watch at either event to cheer on the rowers!!

Pictures of Sawyer Street Site

These images are ones I took the other day just from the employee parking lot area for the Market Basket grocery store. The first (close up of a fence - yay!..kidding) is a view of the ramp area into the water. This is Sawyer Street as it dead ends, but leads directly into the Acushnet River and where our new docks will go. The second photo is a little further back but of the same area and I can envision our container going on the grassy patch to the right and our boat racks going on the flat gravel/dirt area leading directly down into the water. The other 2 photos are of a patch of grass where I assume the boathouse/multi-use building will go. (I vote for a boathouse!!...hint hint hint :) )

2011

Welcome to 2011 everyone!! I hope all of you had a great holiday season and didn't get a hangover from New Year's Eve ;)

NBCR is moving right along gearing up for what is to come this spring. Winter training is on-going through the YMCA (sign up now!) and the coaches and I will be setting the spring racing schedule soon. It'll be posted on our website under "TEAMS" (top left of the home page). As I get better with the website, that tab will probably have a few separate options for each team and what we're doing.

I also went by the Sawyer Street site today just to see what's new and it looks great! There's an employee parking lot there with a graded grass area (as opposed to uneven gravel and dirt from before) with fencing. The end of Sawyer Street is also graded and de-weeded. It's looking ready for a dock and some boats to show up soon! I'm very excited for our new location and will keep you all posted as things evolve. Once I download the pictures I took this morning, I'll post on here. There are many different entities and hurdles, but it's just a matter of time before we have a fabulous new set up for our boats and container. This spring you will be sure to see it - when you come to one of our many regattas!! See you there....