Raleigh Rowing had a banner day at the Head of the South Regatta on Saturday, November 14. After Hurricane Ida dumped several days of solid rain on the Southeast, the Savannah River was running high and fast. We had a record eleven entries at the regatta and brought home lots of hardware. The morning kicked off with Shawn racing in the championship 1x, Erynn racing in the novice 1x, and Beth, Doug, and Dave racing in the masters 1x. Beth won a silver medal, Doug won a bronze, and Erynn took home a gold. Next up were Nathan and Joe in the masters 2x. Despite hitting the starting buoy and racing against guys with 2+ minute handicaps, they finished third.

The ladies quads went next, racing two boats against Catawba and Jacksonville. Vespoli was kind enough to let us demo one of their boats, and it lead Laura, Holly, Jackie, and Alexa to victory. They finished a full minute before second-place Catawba. Lauren, Beth, Carolynn, and Kelly beat out Jacksonville by 32 seconds for the bronze. Despite practicing together only once, the women’s 4+ won their race, beating out two experienced Atlanta boats. Congratulations to Laura, Jackie, Holly, Lauren, and coxswain Erynn for bringing home gold medals in a sweep event! Also thanks to Triangle Rowing for use of their boat.

We rounded out the day with the mixed quad and men’s quad events. Nathan, Doug, Dave, and Joe won their race in a fast time of 16:46. Thanks again to Vespoli for use of that lovely boat. Carolynn, Mike, Philippe, and Kelly busted up the course and finished second. Excellent results all around! Many thanks to NC State for sharing their trailer with us. Complete race results are available here.

2009 has been a great year of racing for RRC and we hope to continue the momentum into 2010. Stay tuned for competitive events through the winter and think ahead to sprints in the spring! Thank you and congratulations to the many rowers who raced this year for RRC. Extra props are in order for our novices, Nathan and Philippe, who fearlessly jumped into our chaotic racing scene.

Doug and Erynn took a bunch of really excellent photos during the regatta, which are available at their website here.