BLADE AT THE CATCHThe Official Newsletter for the Friends of Harvard-Radcliffe Rowing | FLORIDA EDITION 2017

A NOTE FROM OUR FRIENDS PRESIDENTGreetings, Friends!

Our squads are just back from their January training trip to Sarasota, Florida. Enclosed are some memories from that trip.

The rowing program is grateful to the members of our community who support this trip, especially Bill Ackman ’88 whose recurring generous gift gives us the capability to continue this trip at great scale (>180 student-athletes!) while we also support a further training camp trip to Florida in March, and travel to a variety of regattas after the regular season ends (IRAs, Henley, etc).

The Committee of the Friends also thanks the community of parents who responded with great enthusiasm to our recent parent appeal, the annual “Letter from Camp.” We are reliably informed by parents that this letter, sent in physical form with real envelopes, stamps and written word, will be treasured as a (increasingly) rare memento of their children’s penmanship.

For those of you – alums, parents and others – who have not yet supported the Friends, now is a great time. Giving with a credit card is as simple as clicking here, or contacting Trevor MacDonald at tmacdonald@fas.harvard.edu for information on other ways to give. For those of you in reunion years please remember that gifts to the Friends are eligible for full “class credit.”

Winter training has resumed in Cambridge, with legions of hard worked ergometers giving testament to our crews’ investment in their winter training. The racing season kicks off on March 25th, and we hope we will see many of you on the banks of the racecourses in a few short months.

Gratefully,

Travis R. Metz ‘91

RADCLIFFE HEAVYWEIGHTFirstly, thank you to all the Friends of Harvard-Radcliffe Rowing, our coaches, and to everyone who makes the Florida training trips possible! Training conditions were truly spectacular, every practice was warm and sunny, it never rained, and even the wind held off to give us flat water for almost every session. The Radcliffe heavyweights attacked the start of our spring training season with sunrise rows, lots of miles on the Manatee River, and afternoon seat-racing sessions on the world-class Benderson course.

Even before the team descended upon Manatee County, we knew that this training trip was going to be different. Our winter points contest, starting in December, had an added twist this year of challenging each class of athletes to earn more points per person than the other classes. As the weeks rolled on, the points piled up, and each class’s desire to win pushed us all to gain fitness and strength. The sophomores, or as they dubbed themselves the “S’mores”, rose above the competition and finished on top. We were all impressed by their class spirit, and the whole team benefitted greatly from the training everyone put in while we were apart over break.

Before our arrival, the team received a detailed email with the full training schedule and notes from the coaches. We readied ourselves for the challenges of the upcoming camp, and also looked forward to meeting our new coach, New Zealand Olympian Fiona Bourke. Fiona’s fresh perspective, competitive spirit and good humor lifted the team up over the course of the trip. One evening, we enjoyed ice cream with Fiona and asked her questions about her experiences. Like our volunteer coach Gevvie Stone, Fiona is not just a world-class rower but also an ice cream enthusiast.

As the camp started, we hopped into long morning rows past the bridge at Fort, and lift sessions paired with competitive side-by-side pieces in the afternoon at Nathan Benderson Park. At Benderson, we spent a lot of time in pairs and fours to develop technique and racing strategies. Over the course of the trip, we saw many teammates with little previous experience in pairs

become comfortable in the small boats. We spent our evenings going out to class dinners, cooking out by the hotel grill, sharing dinners at the RVH crock pot collective, and playing card games.

Across the board, spirits were high and the team had a new sense of energy and anticipation. Despite new blisters and old injuries, this Florida trip seemed more productive than ever; it flew by quickly and left the team with a sense of excitement and urgency leading into the spring racing season. We hope to take the momentum we built in Florida and run with it this spring!

Though we are reluctant to head back north, we are excited to attack the coming winter training on the ergs and out on the Charles River. We eagerly await our return to Florida for spring break, an opportunity that will allow us to build on all of the progress we have made this year. We are grateful to the Radcliffe and Harvard communities of rowers, coxswains, coaches, alumni, family, and friends for all your support—the collective spirit keeps our team going, and we hope to do you all proud!

Sincerely,

Abigail Parker ’17 and Isabella Benduski ’17, Co-Captains

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RADCLIFFE LIGHTWEIGHT

This year in Florida, RVL has ramped up the competitive aspect of our training. We started out with an intense 4k erg test, followed by several rounds of seat racing and piecing in small boats. After all, there’s no place better to test your limits than the future host of the 2017 World’s Rowing competition! These 10 days in the sun have been filled with workouts designed to push us farther than we’ve gone in past training trips and prepare us for the tough erg sessions ahead. Our coach, formerly known as Sarah Schwegman, is now Sarah Baker and has been joined here by her new husband, Dan. We have also been lucky to have not one, not two, but three assistant coaches with us here, giving each rower the individual technical instruction they need. When we weren’t on the water, we were pounding the pavement on runs or doing long rounds of core exercises. Each one of us is leaving a fitter, faster rower than we came.

The intensity of our training this year has been matched by the fun had and the memories made. We were thrilled to be invited to the Dupuis’ (Andre HVL ’18) for a Cajun BBQ with HVL. The dinner was a Florida highlight for sure! The food was amazing, and it is always fun to spend time with our male lightweight counterparts. In fact, we spent much of the training trip with HVL, overlapping during our morning sessions at Benderson and our afternoon rows at Fort Hamer. While we were not given the opportunity to race them on the water, we worked hard to best the boys in efficiency. During both practices we tried to “bring the hustle,” beating the boys on and off the dock and escaping the bugs at the same time. As always, RVL had a great time at the BBQ hosted by the generous parents of the Sarasota rowing community. The s’mores and live music were a big hit. It was RVL’s favorite type of party -- the kind that lets you get to bed before 9pm.

STAY CONNECTED, FOLLOW THE TEAM!

As we say goodbye to Florida for now, we take a moment to appreciate the strong senior class that has led us through the trip. This year 7 seniors took turns motivating the team, driving the minivans, and getting roasted by the younger girls. Not to be forgotten, the energetic Class of 2020 seamlessly jumped into training and team traditions. The senior class feels lucky to have so many talented and promising freshman to carry on after they graduate.

Thanks to everyone who has made this week possible, we would not be RVL without it. Here’s to a short winter and a long winning streak in Spring 2017!

Elizabeth Pate ’17 and Ruby Emberling ’17, Co-Captains

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HARVARD HEAVYWEIGHTAfter being pressed by the alumni in a winter break training contest, HUBC oarsmen reconvened in Florida fitter than ever. Although completely optional, the competition enjoyed nearly full participation and physically prepared the team to hit the ground running from the first day of the camp. Met by glassy conditions and warm weather, the squad began a routine of early morning rows for mileage in eights on the Manatee River and afternoon sessions at the Benderson race course in Sarasota, where buoyed lanes offered an ideal arena for side-by-side racing in small boats.

Coaches Butt, Lapage and Foglia presented a clear plan for the nine-day camp that aimed to take advantage of both venues. The first few days focused on reestablishing the technical finesse the team had refined in the fall, consisting of 20km+ sessions at low intensity during which the oarsmen worked concertedly to make their mixed line-ups click. A powerful tool to this end was the access HUBC has to telemetry systems in both an eight and four pairs, providing real-time insights into each oarsman’s stroke. The aggregate impact of this feedback could be clearly felt in the boat as each athlete could better visualize the technical changes they sought.

In the latter portion of the camp, the focus became technical endurance as the team challenged itself to maintain its efficient stroke for long stretches at higher intensity. On the Manatee River, the team tested itself over 4-miles to prepare for The Race, often ending in 4 boats separated by only a few seats. At the Benderson course, the oarsmen pushed each other in a pairs matrix and several afternoons of side-by-side racing in coxless fours at higher cadences. As the sun set in a brilliant array of colors on the water each evening, a “Beat Yale” chant boomed from boats.

While blisters worsened and bodies fatigued, the intensity and morale present in each session seemed to grow over the course of the camp. Led by a close-

knit and diverse senior class, groups comprised of all four classes grilled meals at the hotel together, conducted stretching and recovery sessions in between rows and encouraged each other on the water with shouts in the boat. The squad was graciously hosted by the Taaffe family for a prime rib dinner on the last night of the camp, solidifying these high spirits and fueling the team for one last 4-mile push before de-rigging and heading home to Newell.

The massive team-wide effort given in this last session, after 160 miles of rowing, represents the most focused Florida camp I’ve experienced and seems to portend a strong 2017 racing season. HUBC is incredibly grateful to the Friends for the continued opportunity to strengthen itself by training in Florida. With such beautiful weather and world-class facilities, we are able to do nearly a month’s worth of training in just over a week, generating crucial momentum for the season ahead. Thank you!

Chase Buchholz ’17, Captain

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HARVARD LIGHTWEIGHTHVL had a different outlook on the January Florida trip this year, going into it with new head coach Billy Boyce. This resulted in a revamped feel, even for the seniors in the group. We worked our way through different boat classes, rowing predominantly at Nathan Benderson Park in the mornings using pairs and coxless fours, and Fort Hamer in the afternoons in the coxed eights.

The camp kicked off by completing our first pair matrix in recent memory. The matrix was run by doing four 1500m time trials at rate 30, swapping partners each time. The overall time of each athlete was then added up to get a ranking. The results of this were used to reset the ladder rankings for each boat. While this was extremely competitive, the banter remained high on the dock when changing partners. This really set the tone for the remainder of the camp; we were going to be racing each other, and uplifting each other for the duration of the stay.

To facilitate all four teams trying to use Nathan Benderson Park to get some side-by-side, straight course racing done, we shared boats with RVH. Talking to Radcliffe head coach, Liz O’Leary, she said that RVH and HVL together made this camp possible by sharing equipment and freeing up time for the other programs. This also meant half the trailer loading as usual!

And of course, we continued our yearly highlight; a Cajun feast at Andre Dupuis’ ’18 house put on by his amazing family. The food featured fried turkey, boudin sausage, crawfish pies, gumbo and bread pudding. This year we invited RVL to our feast and everyone had a great night and ate to their heart’s desire. On the subject of food, we have made a visit to the Country Pancake House near the Benderson course a yearly tradition (also introduced to us by Andre), where we had Spencer Kaplan ’19 finish the pancake challenge of two-foot diameter pancakes, winning us a discount there the next morning.

A nine-man strong senior class really helped drive this trip and set the tone that Billy wanted. Having seniors in all boats helped add experience to a new looking

camp, and helped the team maintain momentum through the camp. Overall it was a highly challenging and highly rewarding camp that saw HVL wrap its mindset around working hard for each other before spring racing season.

On behalf of HVL and the coaching staff, I would like to thank the Friends of Harvard-Radcliffe Rowing for funding this trip and allowing us to train at a high level, so that we can compete at a high level – it is very much appreciated!

As ever; From Sarasota, A Great Day to Row!

Jack Kelly ’17, Captain HVL

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HARVARD HEAVYWEIGHTApr 1, 2017 Cornell & George Washington at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 8, 2017 Brown at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 15, 2017 Princeton at Princeton, N.J. | Lake Carnegie Apr 22, 2017 Penn & Navy at Philadelphia, Pa. | Schuylkill River Apr 29, 2017 Northeastern at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverMay 14, 2017 Eastern Sprints Championships at Worcester, Mass. | Lake Quinsigamond Jun 2-4, 2017 IRA National Championship at Sacramento, Calif. | Lake Natoma Jun 10, 2017 Yale at New London, Conn. | Thames River

HARVARD LIGHTWEIGHTApr 8, 2017 Cornell & Penn at Philadelphia, Pa. | Schuylkill River Mathews Leonard Cup Apr 8, 2017 Columbia & Georgetown at Leonia, N.J. | Overpeck Lake Apr 15, 2017 Dartmouth & MIT at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles River Biglin BowlApr 22, 2017 Delaware & Navy at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles River Haines CupApr 29, 2017 Princeton & Yale at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles River Goldthwait CupMay 14, 2017 Eastern Sprints Championships at Worcester, Mass. | Lake QuinsigamondJun 2-4, 2017 IRA National Championships at Sacramento, Calif. | Lake Natoma

RADCLIFFE HEAVYWEIGHTApr 1, 2017 Brown at TBD Apr 8, 2017 Princeton & Cornell at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 15, 2017 Syracuse & Dartmouth at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. | Fish Creek Apr 22, 2017 Yale & USC at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 23, 2017 Michigan State & Boston College at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 30, 2017 Eastern Sprints Championships at Worcester, Mass. | Lake Quinsigamond May 14, 2017 Ivy League Championships at Camden, N.J. | Cooper River May 26-28, 2017 NCAA Championships at West Windsor, N.J. | Lake Mercer

RADCLIFFE LIGHTWEIGHTMar 25, 2017 Georgetown at Washington, D.C. | Potomac River Class of ‘04 CupApr 2, 2017 Bates College at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 8-9, 2017 Knecht Cup at West Windsor, N.J. | Mercer LakeApr 15, 2017 Muri Cup/Beanpot at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles RiverApr 22, 2017 Princeton at Cambridge, Mass. | Charles River Class of ‘99 CupApr 30, 2017 Eastern Sprints Championships at Worcster, Mass. | Lake QuinsigamondJun 2-4, 2017 IRA National Championships at Sacramento, Calif. | Lake Natoma

2017 SPRING SCHEDULES

STAY CONNECTED

Travis Metz ’91 | Friends Presidenttravisrmetz@gmail.com

Cécile Ulbrich Tucker ’91 | Friends Vice Presidentcutucker@gmail.com

Charley Butt | The Bolles-Parker Head Coach for Harvard Men’s Heavyweight Crewcsbutt@fas.harvard.edu617.495.7775

Billy Boyce | The Friends of Harvard Lightweight Rowing Coach for Men’s Lightweight Crewboyce@fas.harvard.edu617.495.7775

Liz O’Leary | Head Coach of Radcliffe Heavyweight Creweholeary@fas.harvard.edu617.495.9249

Sarah Baker | Head Coach of Radcliffe Lightweight Crewschwegman@fas.harvard.edu617.495.9249

Trevor MacDonald | Friends Group Liaison to Rowingtmacdonald@fas.harvard.edu617.496.9356