The final weekend of the fall rowing season turned out to be a showcase for the Pacific Northwest’s weather dichotomy — a relentless, drenching rain one day and a crisp, sunny respite the next. Despite the polar opposite conditions, the Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC) medaled in a majority of its races at regattas on both days, demonstrating its skill against many of the West Coast’s best rowers.
At practice on Friday, VIRC head coach Richard Parr warned rowers that the weather forecast for the 52nd Annual Green Lake Frostbite on Saturday was “appalling,” and the day lived up to that description, with some form of rain pretty much non-stop from setup at 5:30 a.m. through boat loading in the dark at the end of the day. The damp conditions did not deter VIRC rowers, who attained medals in 90 percent of the races they entered.
The Frostbite is a 1,000-meter sprint race, where all boats in the race line up at the start and race down the Seattle lake to the finish line.
Masters and juniors women both won gold in the eight, four and quad. Juniors also took home a gold with the U16 men’s four.
While Masters’ race times are adjusted based on the average age of rowers in the boat, the women’s eight won their race with no adjustment needed, despite having the highest average age in their race.
In total, VIRC rowers took home nine silver medals — eight for the juniors and one for the masters women’s double.
Five bronze rounded out the medal count of 19 in Vashon’s 21 entries: remarkable given the talented field of competitors from Washington, Oregon and Canada. The men’s open weight junior varsity quad bronze was especially hard won, with an oar broken early in the race and just three rowers pulling the weight of five, including the coxswain.
With more favorable weather at Sunday’s Head of the Lake, VIRC came in sixth overall for medal count out of 69 clubs. The regatta is the largest in the Western U.S.
The sole gold medal was won on the 3-mile course in a race where a Vashon boat also took second — the junior men’s U17 double. Rowers Rohin Petram and Connor van Egmond pulled the winning boat to first place 30 seconds ahead of teammates Beckett Reid and Seth Rosen and almost 1:30 ahead of their next closest competitor.
Meanwhile, junior women Rhiannon Simmonds and Adri Yarkin had a strong race, coming second to perennial powerhouses Seattle Rowing Center in the junior women’s U17 double. And although not rowing their preferred boat, which is the pair (there was no event for it), rounding out the medals with a bronze for the juniors were Riley Lynch and Rhea Enzian in the junior women’s double.
The Head of the Lake starts at Lake Union, goes through the Montlake Cut and ends at the University of Washington. Combined, VIRC masters and junior rowers came in second place in seven races, including men’s masters single, double and four. Women’s masters came in second with their eight, and a silver was also earned in the parent-child race with Foss and Virginia Miller.
“The Head of the Lake is the largest autumn regatta on the West Coast, and it was great to see Vashon rowers of all ages performing so well, especially in the boys U17 double race,” Parr said. “There is a lot of tough competition out there, and Vashon was competitive in every one of our events.”
Across the country, Vashon alumni continue to do well. Over the weekend, Kirsten Girard (VIRC ’15) was part of the University of Tennessee’s winning coxed four boat at the Head of the Hooch in Tennessee. The race is one of the most prestigious races in the U.S. fall calendar.
Expect to see the VIRC crew out on Quartermaster Harbor through the winter months as they train ahead of the spring season that starts in January.
— Anne Higuera is the parent of a VIRC junior rower.
