The word “eclectic” is hardly strong enough to describe the venue for the Portland Fall Classic regatta that took place Sunday on the Willamette River. A high-traffic urban bike path, a freight and passenger train corridor and an elevated portion of Interstate 5 loomed over the scene that also featured a homeless camp and a World War II submarine.
Vashon’s master and junior rowers participated in the event for the second year, and all eyes were on the weather which morphed from extremely stormy on Saturday to partly sunny and blustery for Sunday’s race day. The winds built through the day, causing race organizers to shorten the course from a 5K to 3K for the afternoon’s third flight of racing.
The course follows river downstream through the central waterfront district, and with a strong tailwind, times were impressively fast.
In total, Vashon entered 16 events and won medals in half of them with four gold, three silver and one bronze finish.
The junior women’s four with Riley Lynch (stroke), Rhea Enzian, Rhiannon Simmonds, Emma Greenlee and Ellie Lande (cox) was the first Vashon boat to win their race and reported that the conditions had waves pouring into their boat for part of the course.
The junior women’s quad consisting of Katrina Heffernan (stroke), Caprial Turner, Tabitha Illerbrunn and Mei Lee Vandervelde (bow); the junior men’s double (Patrick Hanson — stroke and Forrest Miller — bow); and junior women’s novice four (Samantha Zeigler — stroke, Lelah Assink, Maya Gould, Ivy Jaguzny and Kate Lande — cox) all won their races in the wind-shortened third flight.
Two master women’s boats (quad and double) and a novice junior men’s four took home silver medals. The master men’s quad took home the bronze.
Coach Richard Parr congratulated the team on an event well-rowed.
“November racing is not for the faint of heart, and our team showed its mettle under some tough conditions today,” Parr said. “Both our masters and junior rowers performed very well.”
The fall crew season ends next weekend with the aptly- named Frostbite Regatta at Green Lake in Seattle on Saturday and the biggest head race on the Northwest fall schedule, The Head of the Lake, at the University of Washington on Sunday.
