North Bay rowers hold their own in big regatta

The North Bay Rowing Club received strong efforts from both its experienced rowers at the largest regatta on the West Coast.|

The North Bay Rowing Club received strong efforts from both its experienced rowers and its beginners in the Head of the American Regatta at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova last weekend. With 681 entries representing 64 clubs, the Head of the American is the West Coast’s largest fall regatta.

Despite light showers, competitors were treated to near ideal conditions.

“It was a fantastic day of racing across the board.” said NBRC head coach Will Whalen, “Our experienced kids put in a strong performance and, for the first year rowers, they got a race under their belts and performed really well.”

The competition was fierce over the 5,000-meter course with a mix of high school, collegiate and master rowers testing their early season fitness. The varsity men raced two eights early and placed 15th out of 41 entrants. The varsity women’s double of Maia Reilly and Emma Dolcini, both lightweight class rowers, put in an impressive performance as well, placing eighth in the heavyweight field.

The race was the first competition for the novice (first-year) rowers. Both eights performed well, and had an opportunity to see where they stack up in the region.

“For our first regatta, the novice team brought a tremendous amount of fire to the competition,” said novice coach Steve Genise. “We’ve collected good data points for improvements moving forward, but the energy and competitive spirit the team displayed this weekend is an important step in our team’s development as athletes.”

North Bay travels to Seattle this weekend to race at the Head of the Lake and will finish fall racing back in Foster City at the Head of the Lagoon the following week.

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