Head of the Ch....er....Marist Women's Crew goes to Delaware

 Fall Race #1: Marist vs. Temple, Delaware and LaSalle at Delaware

Marist Women's Crew

The first race of our season was originally not supposed to be our first race. The Poughkeepsie Regatta, scheduled for Oct. 1^st, was cancelled and we had to wait three weeks to race for the first time. This was a new race for Marist, as all the crews invited had not been picked to race in the Head of the Charles. Although our team was depressed to not make the time-honored trip to Boston, I think that the racing that happened instead was worth making the trip south.

We left school at 11am and made it to Delaware to rig and practice on the course. The river that Delaware rows on reminded me of my home course on the Passaic River with lots of bridges and multiple turns on a narrow river set in an industrial area. Personally, I like courses like this because lots of landmarks make a race go by faster. Our coxswains are very aggressive and good at steering, which makes 100% of a difference on that kind of course. The varsity 8+ and both freshmen eights were able to practice on the course before heading to the hotel to shower and eat.

The next day, the team left the hotel at 7:45am to get to the course. The race schedule was as follows:

9:50 varsity 8+

10:10 varsity 4+

10:30 freshman 8+

11:45 varsity 8+ round 2

noon varsity 4+

12:15 freshman 4+

*bold races had Marist boats

Varsity 8+

Because our boat had only three rowers returning from last year’s first varsity eight and three sophomores with very little racing experience due to the ridiculous number of race cancellations in 2011, I went into this race apprehensively. In all of rowing, I feel like it is hard to go into a race in a boat with people you have never raced with before because you don’t know how people mentally handle racing situations. There are breakdowns even at the Olympic level. However, we had an advantage: we raced in a brand new boat filled with rowers who were hungry for a race. And it completely paid off. Our sophomores proved themselves to be focused and intense and I think our boat rowed better in the race than it had in all of our previous practices. We started out strong, and had a fantastic middle move and a strong sprint. The steering was great and we definitely gained time on other crews because of it. We placed 2^nd to Delaware, beating Temple and LaSalle as well as the 2vs from the above schools. Overall, I think it was a great first varsity race for our sophomores and is hopefully a good indicator of a strong spring season.

Freshman 8+

Pre-race huddle by the 2F8

Marist had two boats in this race, one boat of six experienced rowers and two novices and then a boat of all novices, including the coxswain. I could not imagine tackling that course as a first race for an inexperienced coxswain and I think that Sam deserves the MVP award for the day for staying calm throughout the race. The 1F placed 2^nd by 7 seconds to Delaware and the 2F placed 5^th, great finishes for a first race of the season, especially versus a team with a home course advantage.

Varsity 4+

1V4+

Marist also had two boats in this race. Both boats had very strong races. As is typical with fall racing, my boat had practiced in our line-up once and the 2v4+ had never practiced in their line-up. Delaware started first, then the 1v4+ and the 2v4+. We began to walk through the Delaware boat in the first 500m, but needed to hold back due to a tight space under the second bridge of the course. We walked through them and had a great second 500m. Our middle move at the Delaware dock was probably the best 20 strokes I’ve taken all year. Our awesome freshmen cheering for us from the shore inspired our boat to take some great strokes. Jen, our coxswain, steered a fantastic course, as did the 2v4+ coxswain, Bree, whose boat I could see the entire time. 

2V4+

The 2v4+ also passed Delaware’s 4, a little before the halfway point. The only thing that would have made this race a little better would have been if Delaware, Temple and LaSalle had done what we did and rowed fours with rowers from the varsity eight. The field would have been more interesting, but it was a good race nonetheless.

Freshman 4+

Post race pictures

Marist entered one experienced freshman four in this race. From what I heard from the girls and their coxswain, they also had a great race. They placed 1^st in a field of three boats. They also had not rowed in their lineup prior to the race, but felt that they were able to match up really well during the warm-up. This allowed them to row well and put together a very solid race.

I really enjoyed this race. The course was different from what we usually race or practice on and the change of scenery was welcome. It was a relaxed racing atmosphere, but efficiently run. From the perspective of introducing 17 freshmen to collegiate racing, it was perfect: no chaos, no angry officials, a pleasantly small venue (my standard for this is measured by the distance between the trailer, the dock and the food tent) and clean port-a-potties. The parents did a great job with the food tent (as always). The bus ride was a little long for a one day race but what promotes team bonding more than being stuck in small space with over thirty people? (Well, besides having a great day of racing.)

Lineups

1v8+ cox: Z. Christopher 8: F. Siclovan 7. M. Kolb 6: T. Fillipini 5: M. Ladouceur 4: T. Mather 3: A. Carafas 2: J. DeLisle 1: K. Butta	1F8+ cox: N. DeVito 8: A. Devorak 7: S. Moriarty 6: M. Romer 5: S. LaRose 4: K. Wilson 3: S. Blau 2: T. Mullaney 1: A. Khoury	2F8+ cox: S. Cillo 8: B. Logue 7:  L. Hehir 6: K. Melendez 5: N. Culhane 4: K. Orzech 3: M. Perry 2: N. Washburn 1: K. Mahoney
1v4+ cox: J. Guzzardi 4: T. Mather 3: A. Carafas 2: J. DeLisle 1: K. Butta	2v4+ cox: B. Rodriguez 4: F. Siclovan 3: M. Kolb 2: M. Banks 1: E. Waskiewicz	1F4+ cox: Z. Christopher 4: A. Devorak 3: S. LaRose 2: K. Wilson 1: S. Moriarty

 Results can be found here. 

Thanks to all our parents, supporters and coaches! And also to the UDel crew team for putting together a great day of racing!

Rebel Race NY: Why I Will Never Take Up Mud Wrestling

Rebel Race, NY: June 12, 2011

Modena, NY

 Pre-Race

Although I was doing the race with my brother, he was supposed to meet me at the course. Because my native PKNY friends thought Modena was 40 minutes away from my house, when it was in fact 20 minutes away. At 9:05, I got to this race very early. So early, in fact, that the parking field had three cars in it and nobody from the race directing anyone (or, luckily for me, charging $10 for parking). However, I was confused because the website said to arrive an hour before the wave started. The website had also said that there were “sold out” waves at 10:00 and 10:30. The 10:00 people should have been at the site already. Confused, but unworried, I took a half hour nap in my car. At  9:35, there were still very few cars in the parking lot. Like me, the handful of people that were there didn’t seem to know where to go. I wandered down to the entrance of the parking field and tried to figure out where to go. I was stopped by a security guard, who told me I was going the wrong way and that I needed to be chaperoned to the registration because I was alone.

And that’s how I showed up to the race course on the back of an ATV. The security guard pointed me towards check-in. I tried to check-in, but at 9:50, they still weren’t ready. This really confused me, because there should have been waves before ours, at 11:00. I started wandering around the festival area to try to figure out where the start and finish were. I met some people who were also wondering where the earlier waves were. Their theory was that the event organizers had written that the 10:00 and 10:30 waves were sold out in order to make it seem like the race was in high demand. It made sense, but it also made me a little mad. We had picked our wave time based on the fact that we wanted to see other people race before we did. Not getting to wasn’t a huge deal, but it seemed wrong to falsely advertise the event.

People lined up at the registration tent

At 10:05, check in was finally open and my parents and brother had arrived. We checked in and wandered around the area to try to scout the course. Most of the course was not visible from the main area and we had no idea where the start was until 10 minutes before the race. There was also no course map, which would have made sense to have posted somewhere since it was a confusing course. So confusing, in fact, that all of the volunteers I talked to didn’t know what was going on either. I still have no idea where I ran.

The "Before" (i.e. clean) Picture

We lined up at the start at 10:50 and waited. It didn’t seem like there were that many people in our heat, but everyone seemed into it. This was definitely the best part of the day. Even though it was cloudy and muggy, everyone at the venue, whether they were racing, watching or volunteering, seemed to be in a good mood. The mood at the start was one of camaraderie rather than cutthroat competition, which was definitely a nice change from the last eight years of my racing life. People were dressed in everything from regular running gear to flannel onesie pajamas to a Goodwill inspired wolf-print tank/Hawaiian shorts combo. There was even a guy dressed in full Superman gear, complete with a cape and ­­– what every good superhero needs—a pre-race beer and cigarette.

 The Race

The gun went off, fireworks went off and we were off. Because this race had so many different components, I’m going to put my thoughts about the different obstacles in bullet form. Overall, I thought that the obstacles could have been planned a little bit better. There were too many bunched together in the beginning, in the middle and the end. There were points during the race that I felt like I was running forever without encountering an obstacle. That could, however, have been due to fact that I was not used to running while covered in approximately ten pounds of mud. But here is my rundown of the obstacles along with a grade for each:

Obstacles I Liked

Fast Twitch Tires: what’s an obstacle course without tires? A-

Creepy Creek: Walking through water was very doable. I think some people ran, but I would rather not risk my delicate ankles. B+

Rebellious roping (dragging myself through a pond by a rope): This was super easy and probably the only obstacle that I actually passed people on. A+

Cross the Ditch Bitch: I can handle a giant hole of water. It’s like being at the trailer site at the Knecht Cup every year, the bonus here was that I didn’t have to carry a boat through it. A-

Hay Dude and Hay Dude, Jr.: Climbing over hay is really easy and it dried off some of the mud. Win-win. A

Lunatic Lagoon: Walking through water is also really easy, even though the guy in front of me managed to find the only place in the pond where the water was more than waist deep and  had to be saved by another racer. F for him, but A- for the obstacle.

Ninja Turtle Sewer: Clambering through giant pipes for 10 yards was very doable. And who doesn’t love the Ninja Turtles? A+ for ease and giving me a costume idea for next year.

Obstacles I Didn’t Like

Hell at Himalayas, Backwoods Brook and Welcome to the Jungle: These were all pretty much the same thing: lots of mud. Hell at Himalayas was a mountain of mud, Backwoods Brook was a river of mud and Welcome to the Jungle was a forest of mud. These would have been way more fun if I was not worried about ending my competitive athletic career with a broken ankle. Maybe I’m just a wuss, but these obstacles seemed more unsafe than I liked. But then again, I also have really delicate ankles. C+

Flaming Fury: I don’t like fire, so this is a personal bias. Even though it looks like I jump over it in the video, I actually jumped to the side. Hooray for camera angles. C

Prison Break: Rebel racers had to climb two poorly constructed walls – which had very few handholds – with muddy sneakers. I thought this was really dangerous. In order to get up the wall, most people had to get a running start. I have pretty good upper body strength and I still thought this was hard. I don’t know how some of the less-fit racers managed it. F

Does a campfire mean we get s'mores?!

Obstacles that were (in my mind) Pointless

Sergeant’s Sprint: Within the first 500 yards, we were supposed to “sprint as fast as we could”. However, there was no direction from anyone to do so, so we all saved our legs. I don’t think a single person sprinted. D-

Drop and give me 10 (10 pushups, 10 leg lifts, 10 sit-ups): This one was bad because obviously everyone who doesn’t have a strict moral compass, like me, cheats. Apparently one person didn’t know what leg lifts were, so she skipped them. The race inventors should remember that humanity stinks. I give her an F, but I give this obstacle a D-

Slimy Slope Slide: This consisted of a tarp on the ground. No water, no mud, just a tarp. Booooring. D+

And as for the rest of them (Military Mud pit, crawling under barbed wire over a pit of water; Cargo Crawl, crawling under a cargo net; and Cargo Climb) they were fine. B’s all around.

Post Race

The "After" Picture

I don't think I'll ever want to be a mud wrestler

I was covered in mud. Obviously. Everyone was. I think I finished in 45 minutes but I didn’t really look at the clock, assuming that they would post results online (they did not). We grabbed the coconut water that was being handed out at the end of the race and took our “After” picture. We then headed to the hosing station to try to make ourselves presentable for lunch. 

That water was NOT warm

It was time for the best part of the race: the “free” beer. I lied when I said the other racers were the best part of the day. It was actually my beer. I had never thought of drinking right after a race because usually I’m so dehydrated I just want a Gatorade, but this definitely hit the spot. 

Never have I been so happy after a race

Cheese curds at The Gilded Otter

The wash before the wash...had to clean my tub after this

In case you didn't get a good enough idea how dirty I got, here's my race number, post-race

Overall Impression of the Race

I had a good time at this race, but I definitely have some suggestions for next year:

-put a course map at the start

-inform volunteers better

-put results online

-get rid of the pointless obstacles

-organize the flow of the start/festival/finish area better

-spread the obstacles out more

-don’t market a sold out wave if there isn’t one

But overall, it was definitely a hard race to pull off so I give whoever ran it credit for that. The idea of an intense race with great entertainment at the end is a good one. I had a good time, I just have high race day standards. It could have been better but I don’t regret going. I think if the Rebel Race people put as much time into running the event as they did marketing it, it could be great. 

Acknowledgments
Thanks to John Clancy, Marist weight coach, for telling me about this race and putting me through workouts that made me tough enough to survive; my parents, for coming, supporting us and taking all the great video footage you see here; and to my brother, who cheered for me through the end of the course and for being brave enough to attend the US Naval Academy next year, because without people like him, people like me would have to defend our country. Then we'd all be screwed.