In this issue:

• On the Water with RVR: Spring Photos and Regatta results
• From the Coach's Launch: RVR looks toward a prosperous future as we embrace a change in leadership 

On the Water with RVR...

Spring Photos and Regatta results

Girls Second Eight with 3 RVR rowers takes first at Portland Tri-meet!

 An important aspect of RVR is preparing our rowers to be able to row as long as they desire. To meet this goal, RVR rowers spend the fall passing their float tests, training in the basics of crew and fitness, and learing to compete as a team. Then during the spring, RVR and Mt. Baker Novice Rowers merge to form one larger team, giving all the athletes the opportunity to make friends across cultural lines and discover their potential as rowers.

So far this spring, the united team has attended 3 regattas: Greenlake Spring Regatta, a Tri-meet with Rose City and Greenlake, and most recently the top girls' and boys' eights made a strong showing at the Brentwood Regatta on Vancouver Island triumphing over their first experience with heats and finals. (Race results are below...)

Now the team is training hard for their culminating novice event:

The NW Junior Regional Championships

That means you only have one chance left to catch our rowers in action this spring.

May 14-16 on Vancouver Lake, Vancouver, WA    --   Hope to see you there! 

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...keep scrolling for more spring photos courtesty of Joseph Songco

and race results from our spring regattas...

 

(Top Left: Novice Girls Warm up with some wall sits; Top Right: Novice Girls First 2k Erg Test;

Bottom Left: Nutrition Class with AppleCorps volunteer Allegra Boles-Hall; Bottom Right: Novice Boys First 2k erg test) 

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SPRING REGATTA RESULTS:

GREENLAKE SPRING:	PLACE:
Boys A Eight	3rd
Girls A Eight	2nd
Boys B Eight	4th
Girls B Eight	3rd
Girls Fours	2nd and 5th
PORTLAND Tri-Meet:
Girls A Eight	2nd
Boys A Eight	2nd
Girls B Eight	1st
Boys B Eight	3rd
BRENTWOOD:
Boys A Eight	4th
Boys Under-16 Eight	4th
Girls A Eight	2nd in heat but DQed
Girls Under-16 Eight	4th
Girls A Quad	4th
Girls Under-16 Quad	4th
Girls Four	4th

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From the Coach's Launch... Looking back on RVR's successful first year and toward the future as we embrace a shift in leadership In 2005, the Pocock Foundation hired Julian Zimlich to salvage a handful of outreach rowing programs. In the process, Julian ended up building boathouse partnerships across the region and the U.S., developing a best practices how-to guide for access-based rowing programs, and recruiting a team of partners committed to beginning a new, more-equitable era of high school rowing in Seattle. RVR is the result of each of those endeavors-of years of exchanges about how to create opportunities for all community members to not just try rowing, but excel at it, invest in it, and truly become a part of the rowing community. Many groups across the country have launched programs with this end, but RVR may be the first to truly execute it. A co-ed program, RVR opens the doors of rowing to non-swimmers, non-boaters, and community members who don't see themselves represented in the sport, and prepares those young people to help define an inclusive boathouse culture at the Mt. Baker boathouse in Seattle.  In its first year, RVR boasts 12 participants (soon graduates)-a 100% retention rate from the fall season. RVRers can be proud of successfully merging with the traditional junior program at MBRC, and are already the owners of a number of ribbons from local regattas. Program Director Julian Zimlich is thrilled with the team. "I have so much confidence in our rowers' individual abilities -- as rowers, as stewards, and as community members. Each of them came to us with their own ‘amazingness'-all we did was give them a venue in which to showcase it. What really pleases me is how much each RVRer now identifies with crew - they each truly think of themselves as rowers." With a terrific first year about to wrap up, Julian is looking ahead. "For me, this past year doesn't stand alone. It is an extension of the work I've been doing for over a decade-helping organizations figure out how to reach out to and engage those in our community who aren't privileged enough to have the system built for them. RVR has been both challenging and rewarding for me.  I'm excited to take this experience and apply its lessons in a new direction." Next fall, Julian plans to return to school to pursue a Masters Degree as a Physician Assistant. She says, "I'm looking forward to taking my interests in public health and equity to a new level. I can do that because I feel confident that RVR is in terrific hands and will thrive without me. With enthusiastic program graduates, a terrific website about to come out, and an amazing volunteer squad, RVR is officially a force to be reckoned with. Seattle has had a taste of what is possible, and let's face it-the sport of rowing needs RVR." Julian plans to stay on through the summer to train a new director and help with planning for next year's RVR program. As Julian puts it, "Now it is time for someone with their own expertise to come in and make RVR even better!"

 

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Rainier Valley Rowing is a partnership program of the Mt. Baker Boating Advisory Council, the George Pocock Rowing Foundation, and the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.