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.

Virginia Invitational Regatta

The Mason Crew Club participated in the Virginia Invitational Regatta on Saturday, March 20 on the Chickahominy river in Williamsburg, VA. Mason claimed victory over William & Mary in the Varsity 8+ race by open water. In addition, our men's Varsity 4+, B boat won its race against JMU and William & Mary, the Varsity 4+, A boat placed 2nd in its race against Liberty and William & Mary, and the Novice 4+ took 2nd in its first race ever. Congratulations to all Mason rowers and coxswains who participated! Our next regatta will be the Occoquan Sprints on Sunday, March 28, hosted by GMU at Sandy Run Regional Park.

Click here to go to the results page.

Spring 2010 Regatta Schedule

March 20, Virginia Invitational Regatta, Williamsburg, VA
March 28, Occoquan Sprints, Sandy Run Regional Park
April 10, Rocketts Landing Collegiate Regatta, Richmond, VA
April 17, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
April 25, Alumni Regatta/Picnic, Sandy Run Regional Park
May 2, Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championship, Sandy Run Regional Park
May 6-8, Dad Vail Regatta, Philadelphia, PA
May 21, American Collegiate Rowing Association Championship, Oklahoma City, OK

Driving to the Boathouse

All rowers and coxswains,
This message was sent out to the coach of every school that rows out of Sandy Run Regional Park by the park manager. Please take heed of this; with our numbers somewhat lower than in the past, we do not need club members missing on account of their driving.

EXCESSIVE SPEED WARNING


The safety of the neighborhood and of the Sandy Run Regional Park
users is a serious issue with the vehicular traffic along Van Thompson
Road and inside the park. Fairfax County Police will be running radar
and issuing traffic citations throughout the season as you come to and
from the park. Since the Park Authority has serious concerns, the
following consequences will occur for speeding violations.

· First Violation: Rowers and coaches in a vehicle detected
exceeding the posted speed limit will be recorded and will miss that
day of practice.

· Second Violation: Rowers and coaches in a vehicle detected
exceeding the posted speed limit will be recorded and will miss a week
of practice and that week’s regatta.

* Third Violation: Rowers and coaches in a vehicle detected
exceeding the posted speed limit will be recorded and will not be
permitted to row at the Sandy Run Regional Park Rowing facility for
the rest of the respective regatta season or camp.



James R. Short, Manager
Bull Run Marina, Fountainhead
& Sandy Run Regional Parks
Office: 703-690-4392 ext. 100
Fax : 703-690-4640

Spring Break 2010

Last week, the Mason Crew Club held its annual spring break training on the sunny shores of the Occoquan. With the weather on our side for the majority of the week, we made excellent progress in both our technique and strength. Bob regarded this as "One of the best spring breaks of rowing on the Occoquan in the past 10 years." Thanks to all who made the decision to forgo the pleasures of a typical spring break and instead become more effective rowers and better teammates!