50 Years of Rowing
One day I sat on the quad at Duke, a freshman eating a sandwich in the warm North Carolina fall sun. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up. There stood a very tall girl in Duke athletic attire. She introduced herself and then noted my build and height and asked me if I ever considered rowing. I responded honestly. “No, I barely know anything about rowing.” Truth be told, I wasn’t super interested as I was already committed to the Duke Women’s Club Tennis Team, but being a Varsity athlete did certainly intrigue me. So I asked her to tell me about it and it sounded difficult, but I am generally up for a challenge. And then I asked when practice was. She responded, “5.” I asked, “5pm?” And she said, “No, 5am.” Poof! Interest gone. “I’m sorry but I just don’t do 5am.” For better or worse, I have never been a morning person.
Fast forward a few years to summer 2012, when I got the great opportunity to produce and host daily segments from the London Olympic Games for a US network. As part of this opportunity, I was able to meet the golden girls of US Rowing — our Ladies 8, who were untouchable (and still are). They were beautiful, strong, funny, and a very tight-knit team. For the first time in my life, I felt a small bit of regret for having so quickly closed the door on my collegiate rowing opportunity.
This past weekend I had a chance to reconnect with some of those women and other National Team rowers that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at my first Head of the Charles, the United States’ largest (rowing) regatta. Incidentally, this weekend’s race happened to be the 50th Anniversary Regatta, all the more special.
For those of you unfamiliar with the race, participants include men and women of all ages rowing in boats of 1, 2, 4, and 8 people. The course is 3 miles long and stretches over a portion of the Charles River, which separates Boston from Cambridge. As I quickly learned, this is a major event in Boston, drawing over 250,000 spectators to the banks of the Charles River. Spectators cheered on rowing club boats and university boats — both American and international (I saw boats from the UK, Norway, Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium, Israel, and the list goes on and on). It was amazingly impressive — and beautiful, set amid the changes colors of Boston’s foliage under sunny fall skies.
I thought it important, as The Hungry Fan®, that I check out a wholly different sporting event than the usual football, basketball, hockey, and tennis ones that I visit. The Head of the Charles totally delivered. Fans, sport (really, really tough, physically-demanding and therefore impressive sport), food and drink! There were sooo many food trucks, beer tents, food tents, and the list goes on. I saw what literally looked like huge doggy feeding bowls filled with crispy, golden-brown French fries, Boston burgers, fish and chips, baked beans galore (it is called Beantown, after all), and so many other things to make my mouth water. And so I heartily munched on regatta fare as I sat along the banks of the Charles by Weeks Bridge (a famous pedestrian-only bridge) cheering on boat after boat, all powered by physically-impressive strangers hauling their boats at fierce speeds down a three-mile stretch of river. (It is so much harder than it sounds).
Needless to say, I was impressed and all the more motivated to get on that erg machine at the gym tomorrow. There are all kinds of great workouts, but rowing is, without a doubt, one of the most physically-demanding full body ones you can do. I may never be able to call myself a true rower — and I probably will never compete on the Charles — but erg machine, you best watch out! I’m inspired and I’m ready and I’m taking it out on you!
