Race Recap – Derby & Festival 2015

Derby Sweeps & Sculls

FVRA rowers gathered en masse at the Derby Sweeps & Sculls Regatta Saturday, June 6th in Shelton CT. FVRA participated in a record number of 12 races.

The mixed master’s 2x finished 4th as did the men’s masters 1x, men’s masters 2x, the women’s masters 2x, the men’s masters 4+, and the mixed masters 8+.

Newcomer to FVRA Mary Dinnean stroked the novice women’s 4+ to 3rd place. Also in the line-up was new member Alex Fisher. Elissa Center stroked the women’s 8+ to 3rd place.

Both Katie Ouellette and Gail Zaherek grabbed 2nd place finishes in separate flights of the women’s masters 2x, and then soon thereafter jumped into the women’s open 4x with Elissa and Sarah Center-Gray and rowed into a 2nd place finish. This was FVRA’s second 4x racing entry. And while the women’s masters 4+ competed, their finish was not recorded and therefore did not place.

Lowell Festival Regatta

There wasn’t a dry eye or any other dry body part at Lowell Festival Regatta last Sunday as heavy rain soaked rowers, boats, and oar handles for most of the day, but that didn’t stop FVRA rowers from a successful albeit soggy regatta experience.

Highlights of the regatta-

 Two women’s masters 2x entries with 2nd and 6th place finishes.

 Katie Ouellette rowed to a 2nd place finish in the women’s masters 1x.

 Ryan McMahon and Katie Ouellette finished their mixed masters 2x heat in first with raw time,

but walked away with 3rd place due to age handicap that continues to haunt them.

 Jacqui Futia stroked the women’s masters 8+ to a 1st place medal in their flight against CRI and Northampton, even though both competitor teams had greater handicaps. A special thanks to Karen Duni who filled in to make racing the 8+ a possibility at Lowell.

 Every inch counted in the women’s masters 4+, a race that was bow ball to bow ball between FVRA and Riverfront Recapture for most of the 1,000 meter course. With their handicap, Riverfront took 2nd place by literally a fraction of a second (00:00:00.37) knocking FVRA into 3rd place. However, it’s worthwhile to note that in raw time, FVRA beat Riverfront by 00:00:01.48. Every bit of length in each stroke counts!

 Men’s masters 4+ finished in 3rd place.

Five FVRA rowers travel to Syracuse, New York next weekend to represent FVRA at the US Rowing Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Master’s Regional Championships with entries in the women’s 4+, women’s 2x, and mixed 2x, and men’s 1x events.