Alumni Regatta

The Mason Crew Club hosted our annual Alumni Regatta and picnic this morning, April 25th, 2010. A possibly record-setting 11 former Mason oarsman and 1 coxswain turned out to relive their past glory on the Occoquan. One 1k, one 500, a few power ten's and a lot of trash-talking later the three Mason 8's on the water once again agreed to peace terms and racked their boats. Immediately following this spectacle were the senior recognitions by both the mens' and womens' teams. Special thanks to everyone who donated food for the picnic and also to all the alumni who made this morning so enjoyable! Our last home regatta of the season will be the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships next Sunday, May 2, at Sandy Run Regional Park (see below if you are interested/know someone interested in volunteering).

Volunteers Needed for Mid-Atlantics

The Mason Crew Club will be hosting the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships, our last home regatta of the season, on Sunday, May 2 at Sandy Run Regional Park. This is a fairly large regatta and requires a number of helping hands to ensure that it goes smoothly. We need volunteers for the following jobs:
-Launch Drivers
-Dock Masters
-Medal Distributors
-Marshals
-Shirt Sales
-Concessions
Excepting launch drivers and marshals, all of the above duties require no rowing knowledge or nautical skills. Volunteers will need to be at the park by 8:00 am; races should be over by 2:30 pm. Free parking and lunch will be provided. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact President Danny Lewis at dlewisd@gmu.edu or Head Coach Bob Spousta at rspousta@gmu.edu.
For those with Facebook, an event page has been made for the regatta. It can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=108725082500320&ref=ts

Come out and get involved in the collegiate rowing community!

West Virginia Regatta

Despite unusually cold weather in Morgantown, WV, the Mason Crew Club prevailed in a head to head match-up with the WVU Mountaineer Crew against the current of the Monongahela river. Mason raced in four events against the Mountaineers: varsity pair, novice 4+, varsity 4+ and varsity 8+. In the pair race two Mason pairs beat WVU, both by open water. The novice 4+ race, the most competitive race of the day, gave West Virginia their only victory by a narrow margin, with the WVU boat finishing in 8:21.14 and the GMU boat finishing in 8:25.12. Both schools raced two varsity 4+'s, and Mason's boats took 1st and 2nd in that race with times of 7:22.37 and 7:59.65, respectively. Finally, Mason's varsity 8+ won by open water in the last race of the day with a time of 6:48.34 versus WVU's 7:21.27 and 7:34.59. Another job well done by the rowers and coxswains of the Crew Club!
On Sunday, 4/25 we will host our annual Alumni Regatta and Picnic at the Sandy Run Boathouse. Any and all Mason Crew Club alumni are invited to attend.

Rockett's Landing Collegiate Regatta

The Mason Crew Club participated in the 2nd Annual Rockett's Landing Collegiate Regatta on Saturday, April 10 in Richmond. Facing William and Mary, VCU, Liberty University, and University of Richmond in 4 separate events, Mason came away from the regatta with gold medals in three out of our four events. Both Mason varsity 4+'s that raced claimed victory in their races, the B boat winning by open water. The Mason varsity pair took second in their race. The most competitive event of the day was also Mason's last, the varsity 8+ race. Facing a fresh 8+ from William and Mary and rowing against the current of the James River, Mason's 8+ moved up from half a boat-length back to edge out William and Mary and take first. Despite lower-than-usual numbers, the Crew Club prevailed to have the best showing of any team at the regatta; a job well done by all our rowers and coxswains! Our next regatta will be against West Virginia University on Saturday, April 17 in Morgantown, WV.