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On Sunday night, Row New York returned from a three-day excursion in upstate New
York. Our purpose: New York State High School Rowing Championships. The race took
place on the famous Fish Creek (Head of the fish, Tail of the fish), which empties into
Saratoga lake, with all the trailers and spectators occupying space in Lee’s Park. As far
as regattas go, this was a large event. For a High School regatta, this was a monster of
a race. With 70 teams, and over 600 entries, officials and organizers had their work cut
out for them, with (as was stated more than once at the coaches/coxswains meeting)
615 boats scheduled to cross the start line within a four-hour time window. It seemed
absolutely impossible, but they somehow managed to get everyone through more or
less on time. Qualifications were determined by time trial Saturday morning, and semis
and finals were head-to-head heats Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

Now, for those of you that haven’t been to this venue for a regatta, you should know that
any race that takes place on Fish Creek has a nefarious reputation for horrible weather,
bad racing conditions, and more mud than is strictly healthy. It’s not that the weather
in Saratoga is worse than anywhere else; it’s just that the powers that be feel that all
other races offer weather that is too lenient, so races on the Fish need to be more
challenging. It is usually cold, there is usually man-eating mud, and it usually rains.
All day. Period. For a while, though, we were all surprised by the flat water, neutral
temperatures, and most of all, the absence of water falling from the sky. Morning races
went off without a hitch, and Row New York recorded solid performances. The 1N8
qualified for the final, placing four out of 29 and guaranteeing themselves a chance
to race later in the day. You should have seen coaches Melissa and Ryan practically
dancing on shore at the finish. Of the three senior 4s that raced, all three qualified for
semis, which is an impressive feat for the club. Most teams usually only enter one or
two 4s at a race such as NYS Champs, with that second boat finishing lower on the list.
We entered three, and they all moved on. The junior 4 (none of the athletes were high
school seniors) also qualified for semis, placing four out of 35. Our final time trial of the
day was raced by Sophia M in her single, which if you’ll remember, she only started
racing this season. Her standings have been improving each and every race, and this
time around, she qualified for semis as well. Unfortunately, do to an injury near the
finish, she was unable (though very willing) to race on Sunday for a chance at the final.
Time trials were finally concluded somewhere around noon (600+ boats in just over four
hours) and it was at this point that the weather started to deteriorate. Apparently Mother
Nature was distracted for most of the morning and only had just noticed that everyone
was relatively dry and cheerful.

The 1N8 raced in their final and threw down an impressive sprint at the finish to bypass
the 3rd place shell, snagging themselves a third place finish, and some gold medals in
the “club” division.

Our three senior 4s put in some solid performances in semis, but
were unable to advance to the final. Finally, in our last event for the day, the junior 4
came in 2nd in their heat, securing themselves a spot in the final on Sunday. As soon as
they docked, everyone hightailed it for the vans and packed in. We headed back to our
hotel for some hot food and a reboot for the following day.

On Sunday, our only event was the junior 4 final. The weather was more along the lines
of what everyone was expecting, with rain, wind, and plenty of chop on the water. Our
unior 4 had a good race, placing 5th overall, and 2nd of all the club teams.

They brought home a handful of silver medals and plenty of bragging rights for themselves. A big
congratulations to all our racers, and special congrats to the 1N8 and the junior 4!

Overall, NYS Champs was a good close to Row New York’s season. Our girls once
again proved that they are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and considering that
only a small portion of the team will be graduating this spring, they should continue to
dominate this fall and well in to next year. Their season isn’t quite over yet, though. This
weekend is our end of the year barbeque at the boathouse. We’ll get to recap this year
and have some fun with the help of family, friends, and plenty of good food.

For the full album from the weekend, check out our facebook page! –> Facebook Album

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