Row New York headed to the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta on New Jersey’s Cooper River this weekend for the season’s final race. The Braxton is a fast contest featuring well-honed and challenging crews from around the Northeast. The nature of the race, coupled with the practice season shortened due to Hurricane Sandy’s effects on New York, made the race a learning experience for our girls that showed them their potential for improvement.
Among our results: finishing in second place among four competitors with a time of 6:15.34 in the girls’ varsity 4+ first heat was our Claudia DiMaio-coxed crew. Claudia’s boat, having beaten half of the heat field, won the right to continue on to the semi-final, coming in fourth of six with a time of 6:22.75, only 11 seconds off the leader. The girls’ junior varsity 8+ final saw our crew posting strong results as well. In the category’s second final, our Metzli Cardoso-coxed 8+ crossed the finish line at 6:22.21, good for a fourth place finish among five.
On the riverbanks, our rowing family gathered to cheer on our crews. College Readiness Director Darise JeanBaptiste joined the girls, as did Executive Director Amanda Kraus. When not rowing, the girls played a rousing game of Uno in the tent with Amanda’s son Wyatt and daughter Bea. Our attention turns now to the winter season. Row New Yorkers are excited for the chance to improve their times and their fitness during the winter. A disciplined and successful winter season will bear fruit this coming spring.
Congratulations to our crews on a terrific season. Readers should stay tuned for full recaps from our coaches Mike and Tom Eichler.
