2009 Desert Sprints – posted by Mark May
Just wanted to share with the club what a fantastic weekend of rowing at the Desert Sprints in Tempe, Arizona.
What originally was one race that I entered in the Master Single category ended up being 5 races when I was asked by Tempe Towne Lake Rowing to step in for a rower who backed out at the last minute.
The categories I raced in:
Men’s Open 4+
Men’s Masters 8+
Men’s Masters 1x
Men’s Masters 2x
Mixed 8+
I arrived Friday afternoon for practice for the Men’s 4 and the single. Winds were about 20 to 30 mph with white caps on the water. Conditions like this would ordinarily have canceled rows in our marina but since this boat has never rowed together we felt compelled to go out and give it a try. Considering the conditions it wasn’t too bad a row. Practice in the single however was a different story (Note to self….never back out of a dock against 20-30mph winds). I took a short loop around the lake and with each stroke dug my bow deep into the white caps swamping the shell. I thought for sure I was going to flip the the darn thing when turning broadside to the wind but I made it back. That was it for me. I headed to the local Italian eatery to carbo load for a long day of racing.
Race day and the winds died down to almost glassy water. Our first race was the Men’s Open 4+ (I was rowing bow). Our competition was Boulder Community Rowing, ASU, and SDSU. The course was an “S” shaped course for 1500m. We were pretty good off the start right with SD and maintained a lead up to the 1000 meter mark. The young guys pulled ahead of us the last 500m winning the race by 3.2s. Final Result: Second Place
Next race was the Men’s Masters 8+. The course was 1000m. Our 4+ from the open race were teaming up with 4 older rowers from Rio Salado (I think it was their B team). Our cox’n was a young girl from Rio Salado. Our competition was Rio Salado, Boulder Community Rowing and Salt River Project. We were told by the Rio rowers in our boat that the Rio Salado boat was the boat to beat. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had a starboard/bucket rigged boat that no one wanted to stroke so the Tempe coach insisted I do the honors. Last time I stroked a starboard rigged boat was actually at this same race about 5 years ago. Considering we had absolutely no practice together we did really well. I told our cox’n before the race to call out a loud power 10 and follow up with a silent 10 at the 500m mark. We started out at a 38 and settled to a 30. The Rio Salado Crew was slightly ahead until our cox’n called out our power piece which seemed to work. We started creeping ahead, finally bringing the rate up to a 37 the last 250m and crossing the finish line first, 0.5s ahead of the Rio Salado boat. Unfortunately their handicap gave them first place. Final Result: Second Place.
Now the race that I traveled close to 400 miles for. By now the winds started kicking up. I was rowing a Vespoli Matrix 27 that weighed what felt like a ton (Damn, I wish I brought the Maas). Fortunately my race was after lunch and I was able to get in a much needed practice. My competition was Rio Salado A, B, C. The race course was 1000m. The boat to beat was the A boat who happened to be the same guy who stroked the Men’s Masters 8+ for Rio Salado we raced earlier. He was a little younger but much more technically proficient from what I saw on the water. I was really concerned about my starts since my port oar seemed to dig a little deep (must have been the rigging, right?). I decided to take the start really slow and try to catch up on a high 20. It seemed to work. Rio Salado and I were bow to bow up to the 500m mark when it happened……..the damn lake crab gave me havoc. I quickly recovered, brought the up the rate and powered it up to the finish line. Rio Salado crossed the finish line first by 1.8s. With my age handicap he beat me by 0.6s. Final Result: Second Place.
Was this gonna be a second place day for me?
The Men’s Master’s 2x would hopefully change my luck. By now the winds were really kicking up with some major gusts. My partner Adam, a 28 year old rower from Tempe is an excellent sculler (won the open single category by 21 sec) and stroked our Men’s Open 4+. We had no practice together but after trying a couple of starts (they were fast….real fast) we felt confident that we would do well. Our competition was Boulder Community Rowing and Rio Salado. The Rio Salado Boat had a 27.5 second handicapped so we knew we had to go full throttle on this race regardless of the lead. Like our practice, our start was fast. We settled with some really good rhythm but the winds were pretty strong throwing us off a little. At about 600 meters a gust of wind came up that was so strong it felt like we deployed a parachute from our double. Spectators on the shore commented after the race that it looked like all three boats stopped dead in their tracks. We pick up the pace and sprinted for the finish line to come in 25.8s ahead of the second place boat and 1:01.8 ahead of the third, enough of a spread to grab 1st place. My luck had changed. Final Result: First Place.
Now for the final race, the Mixed 8+. This race was with 6 of the Tempe’s Woman’s Open crew (two of which were lightweights) that came in a close second against Newport Aquatic Center earlier in the day, and my doubles partner Adam. Once again we were rowing the starboard/bucket rigged boat with the guys rowing stern pair (yours truly stroking) and the women filling 6 seat to bow. Our competition were ASU A and B boats, Boulder A and B boats and Rio Salado. Our coxswain was from Tempe. The boat to beat was the ASU A boat and the race was without handicap. I was a bit concerned about the race when during a practice start one of our rowers caught a crab. This was not to be during the race however. The start went off smoothly at a 41, settled at a 33 for the middle 500m. We were pretty much cox’n to cox’n to the 500m mark when our cox’n called a power 10 and we started moving on the ASU A boat. Our cox’n did a fantastic job counting down the seats from cox’n to their 4 seat. We Sprinted at a 37 at the last 250m to cross the finish line first 2.7 seconds ahead of the ASU A boat. They were in disbelief. Final Result: First Place.
Medal tally: 3-second place ribbons and 2-first place medals. I’d say it was a good day of rowing.
After congratulatory slaps on the backs and fond farewells until the next race it was time to tie one on at the local Carlsbad Tavern for some Mexican food and margaritas. Yeah baby.
Pics to follow
Cheers
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