Spring Break 2013 John Hunter Regatta

The University of Illinois Men’s and Women’s Rowing Clubs began their 2013 Spring Racing Season with a 5 day training camp in Tennessee, and finished off the week by competing in the John Hunter Regatta in Gainesville, Georgia.22 members of the Women’s Rowing Team and 27 members of the Men’s Rowing team traveled to Oak Ridge, Tennessee during this year’s spring break to kick off training for the 2013 Spring Season.  The team spent five full days sharing the former United States National Rowing team training facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee with many other nationally-ranked schools such as the University of Kansas, Dartmouth University, and West Point Military Academy.  The warmer Tennessee climate allowed the athletes spent 4-6 hours on the water each day, making for a fantastic week of training.On Friday, the teams traveled to the 1996 Olympic rowing venue at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia to compete in the 2013 John Hunter Regatta. Both teams put up a strong showing against highly ranked schools such as Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Trinity College.The Women’s Team fielded boats in 4 events at the John Hunter Regatta. The Varsity Women’s 4+ advanced to the Grand Finals and finished 4th in a field of 21 entries.  The Women’s Varsity 8+, and the Novice 4+ and 8+ boats each finished in the top 50% of the very competitive field.The Men’s Rowing Team fielded boats in 3 events at Saturday’s regatta.  The Varsity Men’s 8+ advanced to the Grand finals earned a 5th place finish in a field of 20 boats.  The Men’s Novice 8+ finished 2nd in their heat, and posted the 4th fastest time out of the 18 boats in their event.  The Men’s Junior Varsity 8+ also posted a 4th place finish.The University of Illinois rowers are now back in Champaign and continuing to train for their Spring Season as they prepare to travel to Michigan for the Don Lubbers Cup Regatta on April 13.Results: http://www.johnhunterregatta.com/results/2013/collegiate