MURC

This past Friday night, a group of 10 or so Miami University Rowing Club members gave up their night to participate in a school-run Relay For Life, helping to fight back against cancer and support those who have lost a loved one or were celebrating the lives of those who have survived.  Those who took part raised money privately, with a total of roughly $340.00. The rowers made baked goods, made string bracelets, and walked around the track throughout the night!

                                                                        -Clara Kowalkowski (Publicity Chair)

Eight Miami rowers woke up bright and early on Saturday to help some of the neediest children in Butler and Preble County.  The team members participated in the Miami Holiday Project, which serves to provide gifts for almost 200 abused and neglected children in the area.

Team members shopped till they dropped in order to buy gifts for the children on their lists, children who otherwise would not be receiving anything at Christmas. Rowers will continue to help the project this week—in between studying for finals—by wrapping the gifts purchased on Saturday.

MURC is always looking to give back to the community and has succeeded in helping make the holidays a little brighter for many local children.

Written by Meg Lewis

This past weekend MURC ended its fall season after competing at the Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Head of the Hooch is the second largest regatta in the US, and is always a Miami Rowing favorite because of the great competition along with the beautiful weather.

The Men’s Varsity 4 placed 4th out of 40 in their club heat after a minor mishap with a buoy, putting them 2 seconds away from taking 2nd place.  The Men’s Lightweight 8 took 3rd place in their second official lightweight race of the season, and the first lightweight race with other boats actually registered in the heat!

Women’s Varsity 8 placed 11th out of 22 after a delayed race due to fog. The Women’s 4 took 21st, and the two Novice Girl’s 8s had a close competition with Inches taking 17th and Pocock taking 19th.  The Men’s novice 8 took 20th and the Men’s novice 4 placed 13th in each of their events.

In the past the team has left Tennessee after the races on Saturday, however Evan Balch, a senior sculler for Miami, raced Sunday morning and the team stayed to support him. This gave us an opportunity to have a little bit of fun, so Saturday night three of the boats competed in eating the “Vermonster” at Ben & Jerry’s. The lightweight boat won the challenge by finishing the 8 pound, 20 scoop ice cream bucket in 3 minutes 35 seconds.

Winter conditioning officially started this week with 2k tests. We’re all sad to be off the water, but look forward to a great spring season in a few months!

- Clara Kowalkowski

The Miami University Rowing Club had the honor of sending four boats to compete at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston last weekend.

A Men’s 4, Men’s 8, Women’s 8 and a single all raced on the historic Charles river that separates Boston and Cambridge in the world’s second largest two-day rowing event. According to the event website, the regatta attracts over 8,000 athletes and 300,000 spectators from around the world over the course of the weekend.

There are two ways to receive a bid to race at HOCR. If a boat gets top half in a given year’s competition, they are automatically invited back the following year. The rest of the spots are given out based on lottery.

Last year, the Miami Men’s 4 boat secured a bid. The other boats received a spot in the 2011 races via lottery.

This year, Miami boats were squeezed out of top half in all races. However, the culture and excitement of the event and the city allowed the team to come home feeling proud. The opportunity to compete on the Charles is unforgettable.

The Men’s 4 had another reason to be proud. They entered their boat into the Pull For A Cure Challenge and ended up raising $2,385.00 for the American Cancer Society. In celebration of their entry, they donned pink hats and socks in addition to painting their blades pink.

Results can be viewed on the HOCR website. More photos are posted on the team’s Facebook page.

Next weekend Miami ends the fall season at the Head of the Hooch in Cattanooga, TN.

- Ben Swofford

This past Saturday, Miami’s novice boats had their first races of the season at the Head of the Ohio regatta in Pittsburgh, PA.

The cold and rainy weather didn’t provide any favors to those who were racing for the first time ever, but MURC stood up to the challenge and raced well against skilled competition.

Miami’s Men’s Novice 4 finished third, beating out 6 other schools to medal in their first race of the season. The two Women’s Novice 8 boats also earned medals, finishing second and third, and the Men’s Novice 8 ended up finishing fourth in their race.

The course had made significant changes since last year, the most notable being a reversal of directions: boats raced against current in this 4.1 kilometer head race.

The Men’s Varsity Lightweight 8 finished first by default, but were able to pass boats in the open race ahead of them and their time would have earned a fourth place finish among heavyweight 8s. The Men’s Varsity 4 finished fifth but was only 22 seconds behind first place in their highly competitive heat.

For full results, visit the HOTO website.

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Select varsity boats will next race at the famed Head of the Charles regatta in Boston on October 22. The Men’s Varsity 4 will be looking to repeat their top-half finish from last year in order to win an automatic bid for 2012, while the WV8, MVL8 and a Men’s Single attempt to earn bids of their own.

The whole team then travels to Chattanooga November 4 for the final regatta of the season, Head of the Hooch.

Written by Ben Swofford

Miami crew took on the curves of “burning river” and ended up bringing home some hardware from Cleveland, as well as setting a new course record.

Varsity boats rowed again in the Head of the Cuyahoga regatta this weekend, and earned 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medal. The Men’s Varsity 4 boat set a new course record with a time of 17:32:00 and won the trophy given to the fastest 4 boat of the regatta.

The team also had the pleasure of welcoming back MURC alumni who were able to enter a Mixed 8. The rowers got their strokes back fast and finished second in the race.

The entire Miami Rowing team will compete next in Pittsburgh at the Head of the Ohio on October 1.

Written by Ben Swofford

MURC’s table at Club Sports Fair in front of the Rec Center was flanked, of course, by a pair of oars. The signature Miami blades will be making an additional appearance at Millett Hall on Sunday from 1-4 for the annual Mega Fair. Come say hi!

MURC helps welcome new Miami class at Yager Stadium

As a part of Welcome Week, Miami Rowing volunteered at the annual Block Party Meet and Greet at the home of Redhawks football.

Clearly, those in attendance were overcome with joy.

The new website is officially up and running!

The Miami Women’s Novice 8 boat pulled out a first place finish at the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships (ACRA).

The boat ranked sixth nationally in the final Coaches Poll of the Spring, earning them an invitation to race at the regatta in Gainesville, GA on May 28-29, and the chance to keep rowing even after the spring semester at Miami had come to an end.

The girls finished fourth in a tough heat Saturday, May 28, sending them to B finals the next day, where a final sprint saw them beat second place Washington University by 0.1 seconds. Louisiana State finished third in the race, followed by Kansas and Cincinnati.

The Miami time of 7:43.1 was nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous day.

Written by Ben Swofford

Miami’s Women’s Novice 8 boat was able to secure a top position in the national polls, and received an invitation to compete at the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships. They and other MURC supporters will be taking a weekend out of their summers to travel to Gainesville, GA to compete at the regatta on May 28 and 29.

Good luck girls!

MURC had a great—albeit short and rainy—Spring season.

Every Miami boat that raced at the Cincinnati Regatta hosted by University of Cincinnati on April 9 earned a top 3 finish, with both the Men’s Novice 4 and Women’s Novice 8 finishing first in their races. The Women’s team finished first overall, while as a team Miami earned a second place finishing behind UC. Full results are posted here.

The second and final regatta of the season was SIRA in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on April 16 and 17. Despite miserable weather on the first day of competition, four Miami boats moved on to a more agreeable Sunday. The Men’s Novice 4, Women’s Novice 8, Women’s Varsity Lightweight 4 and Men’s Varsity 4 boats all represented Miami in SIRA’s final races.

As exams began to loom, it was time to say goodbye to the Spring season. On April 28, MURC had the annual End-of-Year Banquet catered at the Shriver Center’s 1809 Room. Nostalgia and emotions ran high throughout the evening, especially when it came time for seniors to give their last remarks to the team before moving on. It was a bittersweet night to cap off the year.

- Ben Swofford