After a wet and stormy week in New York City, the sun shone on Row New York at the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse last Saturday, June 8th, for the inaugural Row New York Peter Jay Sharp Regatta on the Harlem River. With the New York Restoration Project’s Harlem River Regatta on land and NYC Swim and Regatta competitors on the water, it was a busy day in Upper Manhattan.
The lawn in Sherman Creek Park was lined with tents and trailers, and the riverbank was crowded with cheering spectators watching crew after crew power down the 1,500 meter race course and streak across the finish line. Crews raced hard all morning with competitive finishes across the board. Competing crews included Spackenkill, East Arm, Hewitt, and Harlem River Community Rowing, along with Row New York’s own Manhattan and Queens middle school and high school teams.
The regatta also saw the debut of Row New York’s competitive adaptive athletes, Maria Bournias and Ricardo Corral, who rowed the course in a fixed-seat double scull. The regatta was the culminating event for our pilot competitive adaptive season. Our competitive adaptive athletes plan on competing later this summer at the Bayada Regatta in Philadelphia.
The activity-filled day ended with the first-ever Corporate Chase. Former rowers, National Team members, and Row New York staffers competed for 1000m to benefit Row New York programs. One Equity Partners dominated on the water against Goldman Sachs and Row New York and walked away with gold.
Thank you you to all volunteers for helping, visiting teams for attending, and the community for coming out! A special thanks to regatta coordinator Marice Love and chief US Rowing official Raegan Johnston for their hard work on this inaugural day!
Thank you to Steve Haslip for the event’s excellent photography.
