The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
From high school to the Olympics: Connecticut’s success in rowing
More than two decades before we had college football, there was collegiate rowing.
Years before Yale and Harvard squared off on the football field, they faced off in the water in a two-mile boat race in 1852 — marking the very first collegiate athletic event.
Since then, and in large part due to Yale’s longtime success in the sport, Connecticut has helped launched rowing to new heights in all levels of the sport. From high school national champions to Olympians, rowing has thrived in the Nutmeg state long before we saw the rise of more traditional sports like basketball, football and soccer.
“It’s part of the culture,” Steve Gladstone, Yale’s men’s heavyweight crew coach said. “Like for example, you can say why does the SEC in football have so many strong programs? I think it’s part of the culture of the Southeast. And I think collegiate rowing began with Yale and Harvard and that culture people know about it and there’s a lot of people who have done it.”
Gladstone, who started rowing at the Kent School and took his first strokes on the Housatonic River where Yale currently trains, is one of many rowers and coaches who has built their career from Connecticut’s rich history in the sport.
Whether it’s the protected waterways, like the Housatonic, or its deep history in the sport, the state is a hub for rowers alike. From Eli rowers, high school crews, adults taking their first spin on an erg machine, to Olympians from one of the smallest towns, Connecticut
remains one of the most popular places for rowing.
GOOD WATER, GOOD ROWING
As rowers will tell you, the best water to row in is a body of water that is protected from the wind with limited boat traffic and has long stretches of straight aways. In Connecticut this looks like the Housatonic River, the Saugatuck River, the Mianus River, the Thames River and parts of the Connecticut River for clubs up north.
“What rowers want is rowing water and lots of it, meaning you don’t have to turn around too often, you want it to be flat and even though there is a wind, you want it to be protected,” said Andy Card, Yale’s men’s lightweight crew coach. “Anything that water skiers love, rowers love. Anything that sailors love, rowers hate generally.”
Yale’s men’s heavyweight and lightweight crews, along with its women’s crew, practice on the Housatonic. The river’s near five miles of straight open water allows boats to focus on pace and rhythm without having to waste time on the water turning around to avoid river curves. With the river only shared by Yale and the New Haven Boat Club, the limited boat traffic also gives rowers plenty of space out on the water.
When the wind does pick up, the water remains rowable since the river is located between two dams, allowing the wind to flow in the same direction of the current instead of against it.
“Where we are on the Housatonic, it’s a wonderful stretch of river,” said Will Porter, Yale’s women’s crew coach. “It’s protected on both sides which is unique for such a long stretch. It’s unencumbered with bridges. It’s wide open. And you can travel eight kilometers in one direction before having to turn around. So, it gives you nice long stretches for training intervals.”
Connecticut’s shoreline brings water access to rowers all across the state through rivers, estuaries and even small protected bays along the Long Island Sound. The excess water access allows crew clubs to space out within the state instead of having to cram and share waterways and boathouses.
But the Nutmeg state isn’t the only place with prime rowing water.
The Pacific Northwest is home to many top rowing programs including the University of Washington, Stanford and the University of Cal Berkeley. The U.S. men’s national team hosts its home base in Oakland, California, near estuaries off the San Francisco Bay.
Unlike the Northeast, where rowers are forced off the water due to inclement weather in late November, the West Coast’s more temperate weather allows rowers to be on the water yearround.
However, in places like Dartmouth in New Hampshire, where Porter rowed collegiately, rowers have to plan ahead and keep track of the wind to avoid getting stuck in what they call “ripping water,” which refers to fast-moving currents.
“The only equivalent there could be is like walking on one of those moving walkways at the airport or trying to train for a marathon and running against one of those things,” said Porter. “It’s just moving underneath you, it’s very disconcerting. You can’t get traction and it makes the boat feel very unbalanced and very uneasy so it makes it very difficult to train consistently in those conditions.”
AN OLYMPIC IMPACT
In Tokyo, 11 former and current Yale rowers will represent several different countries at the 2020 Olympics. Additionally, two men from Old Lyme, CT., Austin Hack and Liam Corrigan, will compete for Team USA in the men’s eight boat looking to better its fourthplace finish in Rio in 2016.
“It’s exciting from the sport perspective, from those of us who love the sport, just to know that there is so much talent
coming out of this area,” Porter said. “I know on Yale’s behalf, that energy that’s in our boathouse, when you have all these high-level athletes in one place it just inspires each other and they get better.”
The Olympic rowing competition started July 22 and will run through Thursday, July 29. Yale will look to add to its already 32-medal count in the sport, while Old Lyme looks to make history and earn the town’s first Olympic medal.
While winning a medal is the goal for Olympians worldwide, these rowers’ passions for the sport take center stage and push them through every race.
“It really just gives you more purpose,” Dave Grossman, the Saugatuck Rowing Associate Director of Rowing said. “As corny as that sounds, just you being able to challenge yourself and always have the ability to challenge yourself more … “It’s just all these different variables
that kinda play into it and make it much more exciting and unique where nothing is the same and you’re kinda always searching for that perfect stroke.”
A HISTORIC FIRST AND A GROWING SPORT
Two decades before The Game brought football to the attention of collegiate programs nationwide, Yale and Harvard held the first intercollegiate athletic competition in the water at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
In 1852, the two schools faced off in a two-mile boat race known to be the first collegiate athletic competition in the nation. Prior to the race, both teams held inter-squad races within their separate programs since competing with other colleges at the time wasunheard of. Harvard won the inaugural boat race, which continues to take place, most recently on the Thames in Connecticut.
It has occurred nearly
annually since 1864, despite most recently not being held in both 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Essentially this was the birthplace of athletics, intercollegiate athletics, in this country,” Gladstone said.
Connecticut has since continued to push rowing to new heights thanks to success at all levels of the sport including in the high school, youth, collegiate and masters programs.
Last weekend, the Greenwich Crew club won the USRowing Summer Nationals for the first time in program history as a group of teenage boys set a junior national record against competitors of all ages.
“If you look at it starting at the grass roots level, in the high school national championships, you’ve had some of the fastest crews in the country constantly coming out of Saugatuck, Greenwich Crew and CBC (Connecticut Boat Club) and Maritime,” Porter said. “It’s just a numbers games, I think. We just start with a lot more because of the access.”
The excess access to water the Connecticut shoreline brings and the success of local rowing clubs remain the centerpieces in introducing more people to the sport while bringing kids into it at younger ages. In addition, in recent years programs, like Crew Haven in New Haven, are making strides in helping kids from diverse backgrounds try the sport by bringing the access to them.