Springfield’s rowing club preparing to compete in Canada

Aug. 10, 2017 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Pioneer Valley Rowing Club youth team Coach Tom Siddall, helps giude in a shell with a four-woman rowing crew at the club’s dock on the Connecticut River. Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs



SPRINGFIELD  – The fog had lifted over the Connecticut River and across the water near the West Springfield side one could hear instructions being shouted to rowers in two racing shells. From the distance, the rowers made the fast glide across the water toward the North End Bridge look effortless.

That illusion of ease, though, has come from the hard work and dedication of the 14-member youth rowing team from the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club (PVRC). The team was practicing before it headed to Canada to participate on Aug. 6.

Coach Tom Siddall explained to Reminder Publications that last year the new teams was “sticking their neck out” by participating in a national competition. “This year,” he added, “We’re competing.”

The team recently advanced through the ranks to qualify for The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta by advancing through the Club Nationals in Bethel, OH. Siddall said the team has to place in the top 14 teams to advance and did so in six events.

It was the first time the PVRC team made it to a national event Grand Final. PVRC brought youth rowing back to greater Springfield in 2007. The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, hosted in the City of St. Catharines, Ontario, welcomes international competitors and visitors from across Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, Australia and Latin America.

Siddall explained that many of the teams against which the PVRC competed have up to 120 members. There are 14 members – three men and 11 women – on the PVRC teams. The men compete in singles and doubles races, while the women are in events with two, four or eight racers.

The 14 teens on the PVRC youth rowing high performance team are: from Springfield, Hunter Mnich; From Longmeadow, Grace Coogan, Hannah Johns, Abbie Keane, Sara Kelly, Ari Vazquez, Lauren Walt, Julia Warchol and Jean Marc Zerbe; from Westfield, Sophia Carellas, Grace O’Connor and Lauren O’Connor; and from Feeding Hills, Kiana Grover and Madison Cofer.

The teams will race through a week of events, Siddall said.

The Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club is a nonprofit organization that operates a recreational facility in the North End of Springfield with the mission to promote river-based sporting activities, to develop river access, and encourage recreation in the Greater Springfield metropolitan area.

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