This past saturday, Row New York headed out to eastern Long Island. Destination: Flanders. Purpose: The Big Duck Regatta. If you’ve never been out that way, you may be wondering why it’s called the Big Duck Regatta.
That’s why. That oversized mallard, which is actually a souvenir shop, is at the head of the driveway that leads down to the docks. It makes giving directions pretty easy and also very entertaining. The Big Duck Regatta is pretty small by normal standards with only 8 or 9 organizations normally in attendance, giving it more of a casual feel that you wouldn’t get from a bigger regatta. Schedules aren’t as tight and stress levels aren’t as high, so it’s quite a bit easier to relax and have some fun when you’re not actually racing. The weather was pretty fowl when we first arrived, being chilly with plenty of cloud cover, but as the day progressed, the sunlight managed to fight its way through and we had gorgeous weather for a little more than half of the race. Building on our successes at Mercer Sprints, the girls of Row New York gave absolutely solid performances in every single race they were in. Sophia M. raced in a single for her first time ever and finished in a very respectable fourth, missing a medal by mere feet. Our Varsity quad had an amazing race and captured the gold with plenty of water to spare. Our three novice 8s raced in two successive heats, placing 2nd, and then 2nd and 3rd. The first varsity 4 took their heat and placed first. The second and third varsity 4s, racing together in the next heat, placed 2nd and 3rd. And finally, our two varsity 8s, racing in a field of seven, ended up battling each other at the line and taking the 2nd and 3rd spots.
Just so you don’t have to go and read all that again, I’ll tell you right now that there’s a pretty significant achievement hidden behind that list of great finishes. For the second time in Row New York history, and for the first time I’ve ever witnessed at any race I’ve ever been to, every single Row New York rower came home with a medal. Every. Single. One. Pretty impressive, to say the least.
There was a handful of dual medalists and this young lady
managed to snag three medals. I honestly don’t know how she was walking around the rest of the day after racing three sprints. The atmosphere was expectantly jubilant considering how much hardware we were bringing home, but there was a message conveyed by coach Previn at our pre-departure meeting that truly impressed me: Depth. Not only did our top boats in each field win medals, but our 2nd and 3rd boats also won medals. The talent and determination to move a shell faster than the other teams goes all the way through, from top to bottom. Thats a rare dynamic for a team of our size, and it definitely makes for some exciting racing.
See the rest of the pictures here! Facebook Album
Next stop – Long Island Championships at Oyster Bay, this Sunday, May 8th. Come cheer with us!
