On Sunday, March 30, 2008, the Carnegie Mellon University Rowing Club participated in the 5th annual University Rowing Association Championship Regatta at Lake Arthur, Moraine State Park, PA. The club competed in 9 events. Notably, the men’s open pair finished the Rathburn Cup race in second place with a total time 2k of 08:10.1. The men’s novice 8+ took third place in their event, while the novice 4+ team took 4th and 5th place in their race. The CMU women’s varsity 8+ took 5th place in their race, and the women’s novice 8+ took 2nd in their race. The women’s varsity open-weight 4+ took 5th place in their event, and the lightweight team took 3rd place. Finally, the novice women’s 4+ groups took 3rd and 4th in their event. The team also participated in the Jonathan Milikowsky Cup alongside the University of Rochester and Washington University, where they took 3rd place.

This was the first water race for several of the novice rowers on the team, and the conditions included 10-15 mph cross the trail, with a strong chop, temperatures in the 30’s proved to be very chilly.

Camp Bob Cooper in Summerton, SC hosted the entire rowing club for a week long training session. This milestone for the team gave them the opportunity and weather to get themselves some significant water time before racing back in the cold Pittsburgh area. The week was very technically targeted, and taught the team many skills needed to be fast on the water.

The week focused on teamwork building opportunities, and each day consisted of three 2-hour practices, provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the remaining time was spent with sleep and team bonding.

The team had a few informal races with other teams occupying the facility at the time; however no formal results were published. The weather was mild, if not a little chilly. Fog kept the team off the water on a few mornings, but the sun was out for most of the week, and gave the team good conditions to row.

The team hosted the 4th annual Valentine’s Day Heart Attack in the University Center on Saturday, February 9, 2008. The event was coordinated by varsity member, Judith Vogel and was a huge success for the members of the team.

The teams participated in both individual and relay events, and overall, the CMU rowing club performed well, most individuals beating their race score from the Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints. The team has an optimistic outlook for spring training, and head and novice coaches Ben Althof and Georgia Bullen are excited to train the team over spring break and have them ready to race for the Murphy Cup Regatta.

The CMU Rowing Club participated in the 16th annual Three Rivers Rowing Association Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints this February 2, 2008. The race was hosted by the Central Catholic Crew. As a team, the club scored more college points than any other attending university, including first plane event rankings in the lightweight/open women’s, and open coxswain men’s events.

The novices enjoyed their first spring race, with notable performances, and overall, the team was in high morale and looked anxiously forward to spring training.

The crew team raced in Fairfax County, Virginia on Saturday, November 3rd, in the Head of the Occoquan Regatta. The weather was perfect for rowing, and all of our crews had solid races. On the varsity team, the women’s 8 came in 12th, the women’s lightweight 4 came in 7th out of 21 in an openweight event, the women’s openweight 4 came in 12th in the same event, the men’s lightweight 8 came in 2nd out of 2 behind UMaryland, the men’s lightweight 4 came in 8th out of 22 in an openweight event and beat Duquesne Univ., and the men’s 4 came in 13th out of 22 in the same event. This was the last race of the fall varsity season, and head coach Ben Althof told the team he was pleased with the progress we had made and emphasized the importance that winter training would hold.

The novices also fared well. The novice women’s 4 came in 4th in their event, out of 12 entries; the women’s novice 8 came in 20th out of 21, and the men’s novice 8s came in 10th and 13th out of 18 entrants. The final race of the novices’ season is next weekend, the Car-Du-Pitt, between CMU’s, Duquesne’s, and Univ. of Pittsburgh’s novice teams, and will take place on Saturday morning on the Allegheny River.