Hello Fellow Alumni, Current Rowers, Green Mountain Rowers, and Coaches:
As many of you know this past weekend was the 43rd Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The weather was beautiful so people turned out in droves to cheer on their favorite rowers and teams. A big thank you goes out to all the parents and supporters of UVM Crew. With the Head of the Charles being one of the largest and oldest rowing festivals of it's size in New England it isn't surprising that people connected to the sport return year after year.
This year, with very short notice we encouraged alumni members to attend the race, hoping to generate some folks for a Meet and Greet with the current team.
I'd like to thank the following Alums who showed up and the many others who were unable to, but shared their support from afar:
Jon Werner '93 Erik Breiland '06 Masters of Science
Paige Fader '03 Wilma Breiland
Becca Moran '03 Lacey Herring '07
Kaitlyn Dillon '07 Heather Baldyga '07
Holly Giampietro '08
This year UVM Crew had entries from both the men's and women's teams. Each team raced on Sunday in the Collegiate Eights Event. The men's eight looked strong and started with a placement bow number of 23. They raced well, but had some set backs when the UNH Men's 8 caused interference before one of the bridges leading our men to slow down. UNH did receive 1:00 minute in penalties for their interference. Our men finished with a time of 17: 05.450 in 37th place out of 42 boats.
The women started in 10th, and with a rather young boat held off others and had an impressive finish of 16th out of 44 boats. They finished with a total time of 18: 31.476, placing them in about 6.86% of the overall finishers guaranteeing their return to the Charles next year.
There were many other successes for UVM Alums and Green Mountain rowers in the Charles this year. Their impressive finishes were:
Grad-Master Singles for Men:
Bow Number 62: Green Mountain Rowing's Timothy Ebbers finished with a time of 21: 51.462 and a finish of 42nd place out of 68 boats.
Senior-Master Fours for Men:
Bow Number 12: known as the 1980 Rowing Club featured Green Mountain Rowing's Michael Totta as stroke and Bill Purdy in three seat. They were cranking and looked incredibly strong going through the Elliot Bridge. Congratulations to their first place win out of 28 boats. They finished with a time of 17: 35.750.
Club Singles Women:
Bow Number 25: Riverside Boat Club (UVM Alum 2003) Paige Fader moved on many boats finishing with a time of 21: 30.378 and a placement of 11th out of 35 boats.
Championship Singles Men:
Bow Number 18: New York Athletic Club's Gabriel Winkler finished with a time of 18: 33.830 and a 14th place finish out of 31 boats.
Bow Number 28: Green Mountain Rowing's Erik Breiland had a very impressive race and finished with a time of 18: 46.177 placing him in 19th out of 31 boats.
Lightweight Singles Women:
Bow Number 4: Riverside Boat Club (UVM Alum 2000) Heather Moon rowed to a first place finish with a time of 20: 09.191. Congratulations to Heather for her impressive finish out of 27 boats.
For more information on the races check out: http://www.hocr.org/home/default.asp
Looking forward to next years Head of the Charles! Let's start generating ideas for the Reunion Village at the Charles. We need to gather a crowd and get Alumni members there. If you are interested in helping with this please email Becca Moran '03 at beccamora@gmail.com or me, Elizabeth Schiffmann '06 at easchiffmann@gmail.com.
Good luck to UVM Crew who will race in the Head of the Fish this weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Keep Rowing!
Elizabeth Schiffmann
UVM Crew Alum '06