It was a rather mild day for rowing on Sunday 10 August 2014 in Cleveland for the 2014 Gay Games Rowing Regatta. With partly cloudy skies, a slight breeze out of the southeast, and temperatures only peaking near 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 27 Celsius) and the humidity at a relative low of 58%, rowers could focus on their races instead of heat exhaustion.
The 2014 Gay Games rowing event, originally planned as a 3200m. head race, was shortened to a side-by-side (Henley style) 1272m. sprint river race. The race start was up river and headed down river, through two major turns to finish in front of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation boathouse. Sixteen clubs or squads submitted 68 entries for 16 planned events. Two events did not have entries so the net events were narrowed to 14. For the results, click here.
Although there were 172 participants, the low number of entries created an event schedule that was slated to run from 08:20h - 12:20h, including three, 30 minute breaks. Unfortunately, the hosts of the regatta, the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, were unable to secure a full river closure (they get that right once a year for the Head of Cuyahoga in September). So the race schedule was suspended twice as commercial barge traffic motored through the course.
The regatta's first event was a Board race, with two eights representing the boards of the two organizations that supported the organization and execution of the regatta, the Western Reserve Rowing Association and the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. As Kirk Lange, head coach of WRRA and the executive director of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation explained, "the boards wanted to demonstrate their support for the regatta and did so in a manner truly befitting the rowing community." Western Reserve won the race in a time of 4:50.5
The local commitment to the regatta was evident from the number of local entries (over half of the event):
Western Reserve Rowing Association (25 entries)
Greater Columbus Rowing Association (11 entries)
Since the race was not sanctioned by USRowing, the entire event was run by 100 volunteers, including officiating. The City of Cleveland's focus on the safety of the participants was phenomenal. Unbeknownst to rowers, police on horseback patrolled the entire length of the race course.
It was medals galore for participants as some races were sorted into two sections, handicapped by age and time, and both sections receiving medals for first, second, and third place. Even events with only one entry raced and medaled (the Gay Games guidance to the regatta committee was very clear: "if they enter, they race and they medal.").
The ten most popular events were:
men's open 1x (10 entries)
women's 4+ (9 entries)
mixed 8+ (9 entries)
men's 4+ (7 entries)
men's 2x (5 entries)
mixed 2x (5 entries)
mixed 4+ (5 entries)
women's open 1x (4 entries)
women's 8+ (4 entries)
men's 8+ (4 entries)
Although gay and lesbian rowers were definitely in the minority for the event, there were family members in many of the races, and of course, there was no doubt about the entries for the San Francisco Bay Blades, the DC Strokes Rowing Club, the Chicago Rowing Union, and two squads of women rowers from Northampton, MA who competed under the name of Pioneer Valley Pride.
GLRF hosted a booth at the 2014 USRowing Youth National Championships Regatta 13 - 15 June 2014 on Lake Natoma outside of Sacramento, California, United States. Approximately 1500 participants from 132 clubs competed in 357 entries. The racing venue is the site of junior regional championships, collegiate regional championships, and masters regattas.
The lake, as it is called, is actually a dam downstream from the more infamous location and dam, Folsom Lake. Folsom is known around California for its notoriety as a large prison facility. Less well known is that Folsom Lake plays a crucial role in California's water supply, capturing a huge source of runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The 2014 regatta marked the first time that the USRowing Youth National Championships were held on the west coast and this marked the first return of GLRF to the regatta as a vendor. GLRF had previously hosted a vendor's booth at the 2007 Youth National Championsip in Cincinnati, Ohio. The GLRF booth at that regatta was not without controversy. The regatta organizing committee, made up of parents of from a group of local catholic schools, had deemed the GLRF presence inappropriate and it was not until USRowing intervened that the booth was approved. Even so, after the GLRF booth was opened, the regatta committee stalked in and blatantly declared what was and was not appropriate for display and sale. (Example: Mark Tewksbury's book, Inside Out - Straight Talk From A Gay Jock, was immediately banned.)
Fast forward to 2014 and a different venue and the reception is 180 degrees different. GLRF is warmly greeted by the Sacramento State Aquatic Center staff. The volunteers and employees not only waive but some self-identify and express their happiness at the GLRF presence. Athletes and parents hoot and holler over the wild and crazy spandex and there is a fair amount of exhaling as everyone discovers the joys of 12 months of naked Warwick Rower Calendars, displayed for sale.
The regatta is the culmination of a nationwide series of regional championships and serves as a guide for the USRowing Junior National coaches seeking candidates for the 2014 US Junior National Team as well as collegiate coaches on the lookout.
The caliber of the rowing was amazing to watch and the strength of character, the warmth, the support of the rowing community was palatable.
The DC Strokes Rowing Club hosted the 21st annual Stonewall Regatta on Sunday, 01 June 2014, on the Anacostia River in Washington DC. The regatta has been held continuously since its founding in 1994 in Pelham Bay, in New York City. Over the years, the regatta has moved twice, first to the Potomac River and then again to the Anacostia River where the DC Strokes practice.
The regatta brings with it a tradition of water movement. In 1994, at Stonewall Regatta I, the tidal flows in Pelham Bay caused the regatta starting line to be moved several times as the bay became shallower. On the Potomac River, crews raced downstream, with moving currents and eddys. On the Anacostia River, the course has been laid out both downstream and upstream.
Up until 2014, every regatta used a floating start that sometimes created havoc because of the fast currents and/or winds. This year brought a new level of sophistication to the regatta with the introduction of fixed starts using stake boats. For most of the morning, the stake boats served the regatta committee with devotion and obedience. However, around 1 pm, the tide began to flood and no amount of resetting the anchors could subdue the rebellious and changing stake boat positions. In a blink of an eye, the practiced regatta committee shifted to their accustomed burden, floating starts, and the races continued like clockwork.
The 21st annual Stonewall Regatta reached a new milestone with 195 entries, beating by one entry the 2007 Stonewall Regatta. Overall, 411 participants, including a number of GLRF members, competed from 26 clubs, 7 states, and 4 countries. The regatta had 35 planned events but with a lack of entries, the net number of events was 28. The most popular events were the Mens Master 4+ (5 races), Womens Master 4+ (5 races), Mens Master 1x (4 races), the Womens Master 1x (3 races), the Mens Master 8+ (3 races), the Womens Master 8+ (3 races), the Womens Master 2x (3 races), and the Mens Open 1x (3 races). Results Stonewall Regatta21.pdf
The weather was perfect with water that rivaled the huge lean wall mirrors at Crate and Barrel until 2 pm when it was obvious somebody put everything on sale .... Warm sunshine and awesome music spun by a truly talented DJ (was he gay?) lent a distinct air that the DC Strokes are here, they're queer, and they're very glad to welcome the straight rowing community.
GLRF hosted a booth at the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships 24 - 25 May 2014 on Lake Lanier in Gaivesville, Georgia, United States. The racing venue is the site of the 1996 Olympic rowing competition.
ACRA was was formed in 2008 to provide a means for American university club (non-varsity) programmes to compete at the end of the school year. Membership is open to all collegiate, junior college, and community college teams that are not eligible to compete for the NCAA or IRA Championship.
The event brought competitors from all over the United States, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, and the West Coast.
The event's popularity has grown every year. In 2013, 57 schools competed, bringing 844 men and 442 women to compete in 1x, 2x, 2-, 4+, and 8+ boat divisions. Attendance at the 2014 event saw attendance rise by almost 10% with 64 schools competing.
The GLRF booth was enthusiastically embraced by the athletes, many of whom were unaware of the organization. The crazy spandex shorts and tights were once again the hot item for sale, much to the consternation of a few uptight coaches (homophobic or just worried about his/her resume stature?). A new product featured at the booth got a lot of attention: The Coxies Cure. The product is championed by actors, musicians, and voice over speakers who rave at its almost instantaneous ability to restore a hoarse voice.
The GLRF booth also served as the official soft launch for the newest feature of the GLRF website: Categories of the Rowing Community. The new Categories application offers all aspects of the worldwide rowing community a means to connect and network and create groups for their specific area of interest. Currently the Categories application offers separate community platforms for Adaptive, Coaches, Coxies, Juniors, Masters, OpenElite, Race Officials, University, and Women.
GLRF hosted a booth at the 2014 USRowing Southwest Juniors Regional Championships at Lake Natoma, east of Sacramento, California, United States, 03 - 04 May 2014.
The regatta followed by a week, the 2014 WIRA Championships, held at the same location.
Warm weather brought lots of happy faces as the crews battled it out on the course. The regatta is so packed with juniors entries that Friday afternoon is devoted to time trials just to sort out the weekend entries.
Athletes, Moms, and Dads visited the GLRF booth, even pushing the ever more wild and crazy spandex on the sometimes shy teammate, son or daugher. Unlike last year, when GLRF was shamed for displaying the naked calendars at a juniors event, a Juniors coach praised the GLRF presence and commended the many sales items and how they delighted the junior rowers
The big sellers at the GLRF booth were sunglasses, lots of wild and crazy shorts, and the GLRF BiSweptual shirts.
For the third time in four years, GLRF hosted a booth at the 2014 Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Regatta Championship at Lake Natoma, east of Sacramento, California, United States 26 - 27 Apr 2014.
Like the 2014 San Diego Crew Classic, rain (in California?!) threatened to dampen the regatta vibe. Crews practicing on Friday afternoon returned to the shore soaked to the bone. Luckily, the temperature was warm enough that most of the mens crews were happy to strip to the waist (and sometimes a bit lower ...) and the womens crews made it a sports bra afternoon !!!! o)
Heavy rain continued through Friday night but stopped at 5:30 am, just before all of the vendors began to set up. The races started on time and the wind didn't pick up until Sunday midday. Sunday's championships victories went to a variety of talented crews: University of California, Santa Barbara, Western Washington University, Sacramento State University, Loyola Marymount University, and San Diego State University, among many of the victors.
GLRF was happy to welcome visitors at our booth from almost every school at the regatta. As usual, the wild and crazy spandex shorts and tights were the big hit although many of the rowers stopped to ogle the naked rowing calendars. The GLRF Bisweptual shirts and Sweet Release shirts were once again the big hits.
For the first time since the Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation began hosting a vendors booth at the San Diego Crew Classic in 2004, rain threatened to complicate the booth layout. Luckily, the rain clouds cleared at 06h30 on Saturday morning and with some quick towel work, the GLRF booth was ready to open for visitors dry and with all gear on display at 07h00.
The booth featured the 2014 Warwick Naked Rowers calendars (men and women), a staple of the booth for several years, and the huge collection of wild and crazy spandex racing shorts, tights and headbands. The boys have gotten over their "concerns" and the market share of buyers for the crazy spandex seemed to be close to 60% for men with many of the guys opting for the shorter, "volleyball" cut shorts!
The GLRF BiSweptual and the Sweet Release shirts proved popular as well as the Come Out and Row shirts.
Thanks to the generosity of Tom Gallagher, owner of Sykes North America, the booth was able to showcase a wide selection of Under Armour shirts for sale.
The weekend weather, as usual for San Diego, was sunny, clear, and warm. The only challenge came when the afternoon winds began to pick up, forcing the starting line officials to repeatedly realign the starting lineups.
The Crew Classic draws 3700 junior, university, open, and masters competitors from all over North America, competing in the eights-only 2000m. sprint race. The most notable international club was a team from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club rowing squad, which fielded both mens and womens entries. GLRF was happy to share our membership materials with several of the Hong Kong rowers who visited the booth.
The just released World Rowing press release highlights some signficant rule changes adopted at the 2013 FISA Extraordinary Congress. Given that most national rowing federations use or inherit the FISA rules for their own rowing rules, these changes will have some significant impact on local regattas.
Masters Rowing:
Adaptive Rowing:
Regatta starts:
Regatta finishes:
Gender reassignment is now codified:
We'll post more when there is more information about gender reassignment. If there is a doctor in the GLRF community, we'd love it if you added a comment on the importance of adding hyperandrogenism to the medical provisions.
Get ready to test your winter training at the 2013 Mid Winter Meltdown, an indoor regatta hosted by the Mendota Rowing Club in Madison, Wisconsin.
The event will take place on Saturday, 26 Jan 2013.
Early entry registration deadline is 21 Jan 2013
Entry fees are as follows:
Early - $25
Ater 21 Jan - $30
Day of - $35
Biggest news for this year is the regatta has a new location - the University of Wisconsin Porter Boathouse. With that news comes the disappointment of no on-site food ...
With the winner goes the spoils: up to four competitors who qualify in one of the four events, 1000m, 2000m, 6000m, and relays, will receive airfare to Boston to compete at the Crash-B's. Nice!!!!
Attached is the registration packet.
Today is National (International) Coming Out Day. For some, it gives them a chance to muster the courage to make their sexual orientation a little or a lot more public in a celebratory and accepting manner. For the politicos, it is an opportunity to raise awareness of the gay community and point to the high profile 'inductees' as proof that all famous and high profile closeted politicians, media celebrities, and athletes need and should come out to serve as role models for society.
We might as well call this National Coming Out Week or National Coming Out Month. On Wednesday, 10 October 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency published a scathing report of the rampant and coordinated doping that took place on the US Postal Service cycling team. As the report went public, eight or nine high levels athletes were forced to or felt obligated to come out with their complicity. The admissions sometimes flew in the face of previously steadfast denials of doping.
All of this points to one essential fact: coming out is very often a painful and uncomfortable process. As human beings, we can't help but think or worry what others will think. We are very often in denial about our own suspicions about other's sexual orientation. Not knowing or acknowleding the truth is easier. As rowers, a decision to go public with our sexual orientation might and can cost someone a seat in the boat (yes, it happened this summer in Southern California, when a rower told his boat that he was gay). It can result in isolation at a club (as relayed by a female GLRF member who came out at her club in the San Francisco Bay Area, of all places). At all levels of the sport, there might and will be the uncomfortable silence in the locker room and in the showers.
October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness month and that illustrates a more poignant fact. Your teammates in your boat and at your club are grappling with a myriad of difficult news in their lives: their boyfriend/girlfriend or partner has left them, their parents are getting a divorce, they just found out their HIV status has changed, or that they have been diagnosed with cancer.
The whole process of coming out is awkward for everyone. Straight friends and club acquaintances can feel uncomfortable, either not knowing what to say or not wanting to suddenly give off the wrong cues or be seen by others as having 'suspicious' tendencies if they are 'too accepting.' Maybe what we need in rowing at least, is an International Acceptance Day.
Share your stories of how or when you came out to your crew or boathouse in the GLRF All Oars Network Member Lounge Forum.
