A Wrap on Fall 2023!
With finals week wrapping up, it’s time for some updates on the Fall season this year. Full team practices ended Friday of last week with a few test pieces to wrap up the Fall. We had planned an indoor erg challenge, the Gauntlet, for Saturday, but were defeated by a scheduling error with the ARC. Overall, we had a great Fall season this year, and are ready for Spring, with everyone sent home with a training plan for the winter, in order to come back faster and stronger than ever. We’ve written about the Novice Introductory Period and Head of the Charles, but also need to update you all on our two other regattas this season, Music City and Bald Eagle.
Music City, in early October, was the first regatta of the season, and was a huge success. The team traveled down to Nashville Tennessee for the race, our first trip to Music City since 2019. All of the Class of 2023 wouldn’t stop hyping it up, so we had to go see for ourselves. It was as cool as they said it would be! The regatta was well-run and in an incredible location, just across the Cumberland River from downtown Nashville. We placed 3rd in collegiate team points, and had 6 boats medal, including our novice women’s 8+, who won their event.
Part of the team cheering on racing crews at Music City.
Friday, October 6th, in the afternoon and evening, we drove down to Nashville from Champaign in several waves. We stayed at St. John’s Lutheran Church, and were very glad that they agreed to have us overnight. The next morning, we packed up and drove to the course, right next to the Nissan Stadium in downtown. Afternoon-arrival cars had already done the hard work of rigging the boats, so all we had to do the morning of were some final equipment checks, and we could get off to racing.
The Music City scene.
The first race of the day was the women’s varsity 8+, followed by the men’s and women’s novice 8+s. Racing would continue with the small boats (pairs and singles) in the middle of the day, and wrap up with the first racing experience for our women’s 4+ and the men’s varsity eights, where we were able to have two entries. This has been the first fall season in some time where Illinois has been able to field two varsity eights consistently, and its been great to regularly have boats side by side in practice.
The women’s V8+, Odyssey, on the water.
Music City was followed by the rest of October. Our Charles crews zeroed in on their race plans, while the rest of the team continued their hard work to prepare for Bald Eagle and the spring. One morning, after a somewhat foggy drive to the lake, we launched and found ourselves in thick fog. We hadn’t realized the fog was there prior to launch, but the realization quickly set in, as visibility plummeted to only a few meters. All boats dropped down to rowing by pairs, and we did drills in the clearest portions of the lake until the sun began to burn off the fog. A few days later, our Charles crews departed for the Charles, which you can read all about here.
Sunrise over a foggy Clinton Lake.
The Charles this year was another huge success, with both boats (men’s and women’s collegiate coxed fours) securing an automatic bid to enter next years regatta. This is the first year in team history that both boats at the Charles have placed top half and automatically qualified, which is a huge development.
Both boats, and Coaches Jack and Zoe, at Head of the Charles.
After the Charles crews came back, it was time to wrap up our fall water season, and move into the winter. Duck hunting season pushed us into evening practices for the week leading up to Bald Eagle, so we got to see sunsets, instead of sunrises, at our beloved Clinton Lake.
Odyssey with an experimental string light setup, in place of the usual bow and stern lights.
On November 5th, Illinois Rowing raced at Bald Eagle Invitational in Indiana, our last fall regatta. We left Champaign early in the morning, helped out by the daylight savings time change, and drove through thick fog to Eagle Creek Park. Fortunately, the fog cleared shortly after the coaches and coxswains meeting, leaving glassy water and perfect rowing temperatures. Bald Eagle is one of the largest head races in the Midwest, and always attracts some of the toughest competition we’ll face the rest of the year, and this year was no different. We got a look at our spring competition, and we’re ready to see them again.
The women’s novice 8+, on their way to a bronze medal.
Each squad performed well, with the novice women once again having a standout performance, both the WN4+ and WN8+ taking home bronze. On the men’s side too, crews performed well, though not without some adversity, as a flip in the men’s pair and a resulting broken oar will attest. That couldn’t keep our athletes down though, and the men in the pair came back that afternoon to race in the MV8+.
Men’s team president Matt Ross holding his shattered oar.
With Bald Eagle in the books, we started to look towards winter season on the ergs. The first week on land, we began our diagnostic testing, in order to establish individual goals, training zones, and 2k targets, as well as to help identify areas of focus for each athlete in training. With that done, the team was ready to start the winter training schedule: ergs, cross training, lifting, and some test pieces each week, with each athlete being assigned to one of 3 focus groups to improve strength, threshold speed, or fitness.
The men’s team on ergs.
A brief interruption for Thanksgiving saw most of the team head home, and then come back for the last few weeks before finals, where we got back into the swing of things. Thanksgiving and the following week also saw the launch of our Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign, raising money for a new 4+. The campaign was entirely successful, with funds secured for the whole of the boat. You can read more about our need for a new 4+ here, and about the completion of the campaign here. With finals now wrapping up, we’re saying goodbye again for the much longer winter break, with a training program to keep everyone on the top of their game.
Posters ordered by team members are distributed at the ARC on the last day of practice.
We’ll see you again in January! Happy Holidays, everyone!