Rowers bring home 28 medals from Oregon

By Sarah Low • April 25, 2017 1:30 am
VIRC’s junior girls’ varsity eight, coxed by the unflappable Hayden Rosen, on its way to victory at the Covered Bridge Regatta on Sunday. (Jordan Petram Photo)
VIRC’s junior girls’ varsity eight, coxed by the unflappable Hayden Rosen, on its way to victory at the Covered Bridge Regatta on Sunday. (Jordan Petram Photo)

Last Friday, both the masters and junior rowers of the Vashon Island Rowing Club made their way to the Dexter Lake Reservoir near Eugene, Oregon, for the annual Covered Bridge Regatta. With over 25 different rowing clubs in attendance from up and down the West Coast, this perennial favorite event is always a good preview of the competition to come as the season marches ever closer toward its regional championship climax at the end of May.

VIRC rowers brought home 28 medals after competing in 42 races, resulting in a third place overall in efficiency points”out of the 28 clubs racing in central Oregon last weekend.

Despite some weather interference on the first day, requiring organizers to call the racing in the afternoon due to high winds and rough water, Vashon saw some skilled efforts from a number of junior boats, including an impressive silver medal performance from Rohin Petram in the boys’ single, the ever-dominant veteran pair of Riley Lynch and Rhea Enzian and the less-experienced pair of Kate Kelly and novice rower Selena Mildon, both winning their races definitively. Coach Richard Parr singled out the girls’ junior varsity double of Tiffany Heustis and Olivia White, for what he described as a “tactically brilliant race” to dominate, with a win nearly 50 seconds ahead of the closest competition.

Not to be outdone, the masters brought home their share of hardware with wins in the women’s four, women’s eight, mixed masters eight and mixed double. Parr noted that Chad Magnuson did the club proud with a very strong fourth place finish in the ultra-competitive masters mens’ single event.

Sunday brought calmer waters, which allowed for the previous day’s canceled races to be run, and continued success for Vashon rowers. Parr noted that the boys’ junior varsity double of Cooper Py and David Nguyen won its race by 10 seconds over a crew from perennial Vashon rival Seattle Rowing Center (SRC), and that the junior girls’ varsity eight win over another SRC boat, as well as the always competitive Bainbridge Island crew were a fantastic cap off to a very successful regatta for the club.

“It was just a fantastic job by all of our rowers, and the regatta organizers who put the athletes’ safety first,” Parr said. “We saw really solid performances across the board this weekend.”