GDRA has Big Day @ Midwest Sprints

12 boats, 12 medals, 6 Gold medals.

A strong performance placed GDRA 4th out of 16 teams in the points standings. Mark Salzler has provided an outstanding sweep report below... Here is a summary of our sculling results:

Women's Ltwt 1x - Bronze: Paula S
Men's 1x E - Bronze: Richard
Women's Ltwt 2x - Gold: Paula S/Peggy
Men's 4x E - Silver: Mike M/Jim W/Ed W/Bill I
Mixed 2x C/D - Silver: Ed W/Denise
Women's 4x - Gold: Beth K/Paula S/Peggy/Denise
Men's 2x E - Bronze: Mike M/Bill I

Misc. Notes: This race made for an impressive novice debut for Peggy and Paula. Doug has each of our races on video, and will try to have a DVD available before July 4th.

THANK YOU: Doug for trailering, Mike for derigging/loading/unloading/rigging/loading.... and thanks to all rowers for teamwork off and on the water.

Keep reading for the sweep report...

Midwest Masters Sweep Report

[Race Report by Mark Salzler]

Congratulations to all on an incredible day of racing.

Men's 4+ Silver (Bill, Steve, Mark, Max and Mary). This race was our current Sweep team's first attempt at a non rec race. The boat lived up to the challenge, taking a Silver with a blistering (literally) raw time of 3:21.99. The first place Western Reserve Crew (Cleveland) had one of the fastest times of the day on the water.

Mixed Rec 8+ Gold (Bill, Steve, Mark, Max, Beth M., Alison, Lauren, Karen and Angie). Angie coxed this boat to an impressive start which it held to claim an 11 second margin over the nearest competitor. A great example of teamwork to make it look easy...practice pays off! Great job also by Bill in setting and maintaining a consistent stroke rate in both of the first two
races.

Mixed 4+ Gold (Vicky, Steve, Mark, Beth K and Mary) Racing in the highly competitive AA-B race, this boat fought for a hard earned raw score .35 second victory over a boat with a 12 year younger average age. A tremendous start which placed the boat in early command of the race was negated by a false start by one of the competitors. The restart saw the young Western Reserve (Cleveland) boat jump out to an early lead. GDRA chased the youngsters down and was inspired by Mary's quote (from Russell Crowe in the Gladiator ) " On my command "...UNLEASH HELL". The ensuing sprint resulted in an exhilarating finish that was too close to call...until final results were posted several hours after the race.

Women's Rec 4+ Gold (Lauren, Beth M. Alison, Karen and Mary). Making her stroke seat race debut with the GDRA Masters, former GDRA Junior Lauren started the race with an impressive 42 stroke rate. Very impressive also that her boatmates were up to the challenge. Expert coxswain Mary settled the boat to a strong consistent rate that enabled the finesse and power of the rowers to build a 5 second lead over the nearest competitor as they crushed the competition.

Mixed Rec 4+ Gold (Vicky, Max, Beth M., Ron and Angie). Waiting patiently for most of the day for his GDRA racing debut, rookie Ron made it look easy with a calm and controlled start. (You never forget your first race and glad it was a great one for Ron.) Being the only boat in the race hit by a strong launch wake, Angie calmly guided the boat through the over the gunnel
(gunwale) wake to maintain its composure.

Iron woman Beth M. won her third gold of the day as she hot seated from the Women's Rec 4+ to assist Ron, Max and Vicky to an outstanding and hard fought race.

Many, many thanks to all of those who assisted us in such a great day:

• Doug, Linda & Mike for the boat coordination and hauling and on site
  assistance
• Denise and John W. for their coaching
• Max's wife and newly designated Team Mom (Candi) for the invaluable assistance
  at launch and recovery.
• Our sculling brethren (who also had great success on the water) whose spirit
  and assistance made our races so enjoyable...after the initial pain was gone!

Next up.....Regional Midwest Master's Sprints in Indianapolis on August 1st...

See you all on the river,

Mark

P.S. The Juniors need to be told that coaches Vicky and Beth K, can truly "walk the talk"...ferocious competitors

2009 Captain's Tests / Regatta Update

Congratulations to Alex Caswell and Jamie Irvine. Alex is a Junior Rower, and he will be competing at Junior Nationals on June 13th. Jamie started rowing last year - a quick study!

In 2008, Steve Zondag and Elizabeth Reed passed the test. Want to see who else? Take a look above the sign-out log in Bay 3!

Regatta Update!

• Doug and Mike will be loading and driving the trailer to the June 20 sprints in Columbus
• Please contact me or Doug to assure a boat and space on the trailer
• We will load the trailer on Thursday evening prior to the race
• David will not be trailering. If you plan to participate in the races on June 27 or August 1, please let me know.

Regattas & Boats

REGATTAS: June 20 is the Midwest Master Sprints in Columbus. The deadline to enter is June 14 - see RegattaCentral.com. We are taking a trailer... [UPDATE - see above]. If you plan to race, please let me know before the registration deadline - otherwise we run the risk of boat conflicts.

ADJUSTING BOAT RIGGING: You are free to move foot stretchers for fore/aft position and to move snap-on washers up/down for oarlock height. If you wish to make any other boat adjustments, or re-rig Panther as a pair, or if you think that a boatis no longer rigged with standard club rigging, please contact the adult rowing director (me). Otherwise, chaos will surely ensue.

Suggested rower weights for various boats are posted above the log book and are attached to this email.

QUADS: If you like rowing quads, note that the number of captains required for Falcon has been reduced to 2. Captain or no, if you've never rowed a quad before, I recommend getting together with experienced quad rowers for the first couple of times.