Volunteers Needed, Saturday, May 17th from 9:30 to 11:30.

Back by popular demand, The Outreach Committee will be conducting a Learn-To-Row program for teenagers from the Canal Alliance. Kate Chilton will coach and run the 2-hour program.

The following jobs are needed:

From: 9:30 to 11:30 am
8-10 volunteers, rowers, adults &/or juniors (juniors will receive community hours credit)
These volunteers will row and carry boats as well as assist Kate in teaching the kids to erg, dock box, and row. This is a great opportunity to share your love for rowing to a group a young ladies and gentlemen that, were it not for YOU, would probably never be exposed to the sport.

From: 11:30 to 12:30 pm
2 volunteers, adults – do not need to be experienced
These volunteers will arrange to get pizza/drinks/water bottles/plastes/napkins for the kids.
These volunteers will set-up and clean-up the Jana Barto room for the lunch.

From: 11:30 to 12 Noon
1-2 volunteers, adults and/or juniors
These volunteers will make brownies and/or lemon bars and deliver to the Jana Barto room by 12 noon.

If you can volunteer, please contact Lydia Arellano at shoelydia@comcast.net or call 415-461-2913.

There's a new photo gallery of pics from the Crew Classic on the site. It's located in the "Photos" section, here:

http://www.marinrowing.org/gallery/sdcrewclassic2008

Any MRA member who logs into the site will be able to upload pictures to this gallery. (Look for the drop-down menu in the upper right portion of the gallery, and select "add pictures".) Please add yours! Send your question to admin@marinrowing.org.

Also, Sport Graphics just released their pics from the race. You can find them here:

http://www.sport-graphics.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=34301

Marin Rowing, led by the Master Men, was a strong presence at the Crew Classic this year! SAN DIEGO, Calif., April 8, 2008 – Marin Rowing Association’s junior (high school) and master’s crews had strong finishes across the board at the 2008 San Diego Crew Classic held April 5-6 on Mission Bay, a major national 2K regatta which drew more than 3,500 collegiate, high school and club rowers from 21 states across the country. Marin’s Masters Men 8E (ages 55-60) squad pulled a three-peat by bringing home the Stewards Cup for the third year running, retaining their championship title by a one-second margin over second-place finisher Cambridge, while the Men’s Masters 8B (ages 36-43) crew comfortably snagged the President’s Trophy by open water over the rest of the field, marking their second victory in this event in three years. Marin’s junior (high school) crews also had a successful weekend, with the Varsity Men’s 8+ finishing fourth out of 16 crews with just a 2.5-second margin separating the second, third and fourth place finishers, while the Varsity Men’s Lightweight 8+ also finishing fourth overall, and the JV Men’s 8 finished fifth. Marin’s Varsity Women’s 8+ and JV Women’s 8B both won their Petit Final contests, finishing 7th overall, while Marin’s JV Women’s 8A finished second of 14 despite one athlete dislocating her shoulder mid-race. Marin’s Masters Women placed 4th in the B and F (60+) events. “Our athletes were faced with some very tough competition from some of the strongest crews in the country,” comments Sandy Armstrong, director of Marin Rowing Association and head coach for the Varsity Women. “They’ve been training hard and it showed; we are very pleased with the results in San Diego, and now have our work cut out for us as we prepare for the Southwest Regional Junior Championships in Sacramento on May 10-11.”

Thanks again to everyone who came down and raced in the singles ladder. The showing wasn't as large as previous ladders, but we had fun and new records were made. Congrats to Tyler Lange with the fastest ladder time overall of 10:02.58! Thanks also to Ken Clemmer, Bill Scholtz, Kelly Konis, and, of course, Rachel Berman, for helping setup and run the ladder. You can access the latest results from the link below and they will be posted on the ladder board in the boat house tomorrow morning. Hope to see you there next time!

--Ari and Rachel

MRA Singles Ladder Results Mar 2008.pdf

Council votes 5-0 in favor of renewing the special permit that allows our launches to follow our crews therefore going over the 5 mph speed limit.

Thanks to everyone who attended the City Council meeting last night. Your presence helped to present the MRA for who we are and what we do.

I believe the Council recognized the greater good in this matter but that does not mean that we may become complacent about following the rules and conditions of the permit. Let's all continue to be sensitive to our neighbors on the creek. Noise is the biggest issue and one that we do have control of. In addition, support of the migrating birds was of concern by the Marin Audubon Society President and we will look forward to learning more about this from her in the future.

http://www.marinij.com/ci_8646254

Now, back to rowing.

Memorial Service for Tony Harrow

Dear Friends and Family:

Thank you for your love, prayers, and kind thoughts and remembrances over these past few days. It has been great comfort to us to have such an overflow of support from all of you.

A Memorial Service for Tony will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary (RBACS) at 376 Greenwood Beach Road in Tiburon , CA . This is an organization that Tony loved and supported for many years, and its beautiful setting made it a natural choice for us. We encourage you to explore the property starting at 2pm. An informal service will begin around 2:30.

Just like Tonys many organized bird counts over the years, his Memorial will be held outdoors, rain or shine. It is often windy and a bit brisk at the RBACS, and were not yet out of the rainy season. Accordingly, we ask that you check the weather and come prepared bring a jacket, hat, foul-weather gear, etc. if the day warrants. This is a casual environment, so please wear whatever is most comfortable. We also suggest that you to wear shoes appropriate for walking, as there is a lovely nature trail on the grounds that we encourage you to explore before or after the Memorial.

Per Tonys wishes, we hope to avoid eulogizing him with lofty platitudes he would have rather been roasted than canonized. Instead we hope to provide a forum for his friends and loved ones to be together and share their memories of what a special person he was to us. If you have a memory of Tony that you would like to share, in the form of a photo, story, anecdote, favorite poem, joke or other remembrance, we will set up bulletin boards to which you can post them.

After the Memorial, refreshments will be served on-site, so we encourage people to stay, snack, and continue to enjoy each others company.

In keeping with Tonys Green principles, we are requesting that you do not send flowers. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Tonys name to the Junior Naturalist Program, c/o Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary, 376 Greenwood Beach Road , Tiburon , CA 94920 (www.tiburonaudubon.org).

One final note there is limited street parking at the RBACS, so we are encouraging people to rideshare if possible. Spillover parking is available in the public lot at Blackies Pasture (1/2 mile east on Tiburon Boulevard ). From the Blackies lot, walk back on Greenwood Beach Road to the RBACS.

We look forward to seeing you next weekend as we remember Tony.

Jerome Ryan


Coverage:

SF Gate: http://tinyurl.com/59bdo2

Marin IJ: http://tinyurl.com/6rkoor

SF Gate: http://tinyurl.com/6gjxov

MARIN ROWING CREWS BRING HOME
SEVEN WINS FROM OAKLAND

GREENBRAE, Calif., March 17, 2008 – Marin Rowing Association’s high school crews placed first in seven and second in six events at the second of two concurrent weekend regattas hosted by the Jack London Aquatic Center at the Oakland Estuary on Saturday, March 15. Marin’s men’s and women’s varsity and novice crews squared off against the Oakland Strokes, Los Gatos, Pacific and Serra High at the early morning event, rowing with an outgoing tide and a headwind that ultimately resulted in difficult rowing conditions, with whitecaps and major wakes by morning’s end.

After having lost to Oakland by a one-second margin on March 8, an intense week of training paid off for Marin’s Varsity Men’s 8+ with an almost two-second victory over Oakland in Saturday’s rematch.

Marin’s Varsity Women won their JV and 3V contests, with the Varsity Women’s 8+ finishing just a fraction of a second behind reigning national champions Los Gatos in an exciting finish. Marin’s Men’s Novice 8B+, Novice 4+ and Freshman 8+ crews all finished first, with second place honors earned by Marin’s Men’s JV8+, Varsity 4+ and Novice 8A+, and Marin’s Women’s Novice 4+ and Freshmen 8+ crews.

“All of our teams have been training hard and it shows,” comments Sandy Armstrong, MRA’s director and head coach for the Varsity Women. “We have had some terrific racing and look forward to facing these and other competitors as the season progresses.”

Marin Rowing crews will next compete on March 29-30 at the Windermere Crew Classic at Redwood Shore, and will travel the following weekend to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic on April 5-6.
For Varsity Results:
http://www.row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=4949654&cat=5
For Novice Results:
http://www.row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=2196253&cat=5

Marin Rowing Association’s high school crews placed first in ten and second in five events at the annual Battle of the Bay 2K Regatta hosted by the Jack London Aquatic Center at the Oakland Estuary on Saturday, March 8. Marin’s men’s and women’s varsity and novice crews squared off against the Oakland Strokes, Saint Ignatius and Berkeley High School at the early morning event, rowing into an incoming tide under sunny skies with relatively little wind.

Marin’s Varsity Women and Novice Men won all of their races comfortably, most with open water, with the closest contests fought in the Women’s Varsity and Junior Varsity races, where Marin crews prevailed by seven- and six-seconds respectively over SI. Marin’s Men’s Varsity 8+ and Lightweight 8+ crews both finished second to Oakland in very tight battles by one-second margins.

“Oakland has always fielded very strong crews, so we knew had our work cut out for us,” comments MRA’s Men’s Varsity Head Coach Jim Andersen. “We are going to have a very intense week of training with some serious seat racing, and we look forward to our rematch with Oakland next week.”

Marin Rowing’s junior crews will race the Oakland Strokes in addition to crews from Los Gatos and Pacific this Saturday, March 15, again at the Jack London Aquatic Center at the Oakland Estuary. On March 29-20, MRA will compete in the Windermere Crew Classic at Redwood Shores.

It's time for the second attempt at the third installment of the Marin Rowing singles ladder, a 2500m member's only race conducted entirely in singles! The last scheduled race had to be canceled due to bad weather. So, come down on Sunday morning, March 16th and give the ladder a shot!

When: Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008
Mandatory Race Meeting: 8:45am
First flight start time: 9:15am (high tide at 7:12am)
Second flight: approx. 9:45am
More flights: if needed.