Cascadilla had a very successful couple of days at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs. Thankfully the weather was about 20F warmer than last year, with markedly less precipitation. The masters competed Saturday, and the scholastic athletes competed on Sunday. Both groups brought back some fish heads - the notorious and much-coveted ugliest trophy in rowing (Rockett's newest fish head, "Caroline," pictured below for reference..nb they don't all come with names, Caroline is special).  

Scholastic Results:
First in the Mixed Junior 4x and the Girls' 1V 2x! 
Eighth of forty-one crews in the Boys' 2x
Eleventh of thirty-one crews in the Boys' 2V 4+
Tenth of twenty-six crews in the Girls' 1V 4+
Eleventh of twenty-six crews in the Girls' 2V 4+
Fourteenth of thirty-three crews in the Girls' 1V 8+
Eleventh of twenty-three crews in the Boys' Freshman/Novice 4+
Sixteenth of thirty-one crews in the Girls' 1V 2x
Thirteenth of twenty-one crews in the Boys' Lightweight 2X
Eighth of ten crews in the Mixed Junior 8+
Eighteenth of twenty-four crews in the Girls' Freshman/Novice 4+
Seventeenth of twenty-seven crews in the Girls' 1V 4x
Twenty-fourth of twenty-nine crews in the Boys' 1V 8+

Masters Results:
Marty van der Heide placed third in the Men's Masters 1x (40-49)
Emily Rockett won the Women's Masters 1x (30-39)
Tim Willsallen won the Men's Veteran 1x, with Kim McKnight placing 3rd in the same event.
Liz Ellis placed second in the Women's Masters' Lightweight 1x (with the fastest raw time by 40 seconds)
Tim Willsallen and Marty van der Heide rowed with the Free Radicals to a first place finish in the Men's Masters 8+
Emily Rockett and Savannah Brija placed fourth in the Women's Open 2x, behind three Arion boats (.04 seconds behind the third, to be exact...)
Tim Willsallen and Marty van der Heide placed fourth in the Men's Masters 2x (second in raw time)

In an exciting Mixed Masters' 2x race at the very end of the day, Kim McKnight and Cornell grad assistant Savannah Brija rowed to a very respectable fifth place finish (third in raw time). Emily Rockett subbed into an Upper Valley boat with John Tunnicliffe, placing third (first in raw time.)

Full results should be on Streamline Rowing, but I can't get them to show up. Your best bet is twitter: https://twitter.com/nysrowing?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor. 

Many thanks to all the parent volunteers who helped with our most logistically challenging regatta. The juniors' season wraps up next weekend with Pull the Plug in Pittsford! 

The 55th Head of the Charles was quite the experience. Beautiful weather, numerous spectators, and solid performances for the Cascadilla crews made for a memorable weekend. 

CBC results: 
- Tim Willsallen finished 8th of 59* in Men's Veteran Singles
-  Gill Haines-Sharp finished 8th of 32* in Women's Grand Master Singles
- Cornell alumni incl Marty van der Heide and Drew Tennant finished 25/41 in Men's Senior Master Eights
- Emily Rockett finished 2nd of 18* in Women's Master's Singles
- Varsity Girls' 4+ finished an impressive 32nd of 85 boats* in the Women's Youth Fours! They had a very nice line under Weeks Bridge, where those of us spectating got to see them pass a couple of crews in front of them! (See photo below)
- Varsity Boys' 4+ finished 51st of 85 boats in the Men's Youth Fours
- Coach Marion's boat finished 24th of 37 boats in a hotly contested Directors' Challenge Mixed 8+ event

Alumni: 
- Cameron Grover (Marist) finished 26/40 in the Men's Collegiate 4+
- Carrie D'Aprix (Cornell) finished 10/14 in the Women's Champ 4+
- Cecelia Madsen (Cornell alumni) finished 20/44* in the Women's Alumni 8+
- Patricia Jones finished 18/19 in the Women's Club Single
- Karina Feitner (OKC High Performance Center) finished 8/16 in the Women's Champ Double

*Qualified for entry in the 2020 HOCR

CBC Varsity Girls making moves around the Weeks turn!: 

This weekend, tens of thousands of athletes and innumerable spectators will descend on a three mile section of the Charles River for the 55th annual Head of the Charles Regatta.  CBC is proud to be sending several athletes (and a number of former athletes and coaches!) to the regatta in a number of different events (see below). 
If you're interested and can't make it to Boston, a live stream of the racing is available here: https://www.hocr.org/the-regatta/livestreams/ (click on 2019). 

To be able to race at the Charles, your boat must either win a bid in a lottery, or meet a qualifying standard the prior year. Qualifying standards for sculling boats are top 25% of finishers in the event. Qualifying standards for sweep boats are top half of finishers. 

The following is a list of CBC and friends' entries and race times: 
- Tim Willsallen - Men's Veteran 1x, Saturday 8:37 am. Bow #7
- Gill Haines-Sharp - Women's Grand Master 1x, Saturday 9:25 am. Bow #12
- Marty van der Heide (5) and Drew Tennant (7) - Men's Senior Master Eights (Cornell Alumni 8+), Saturday 9:47 am.  Bow #38
- Emily Rockett - Women's Master 1x, Saturday 12:36 am. Bow #5
- Cecelia Madsen (7)- Women's Alumni Eights (Cornell ), Saturday 1:22 pm . Bow #4
- Karina Feitner (recent CBC masters rower) - Women's Champ 2x, Saturday 3:57 pm.  Bow #5. 
- Patty Jones (recent CBC masters rower) - Women's Club 1x, Sunday 8:51 am. Bow #19. 
- Cascadilla Girls' 4+ (Savannah Stuhr (c), Isabelle Zanen (s), Kaisa Mackey, Debora Hoffstaetter, and Katrina Jander)- Junior Women's 4+, Sunday  9:04 am. Bow #40.  
- Cascadilla Boys' 4+ (Sara Xin (c), Wiley Anderson (s), Glen Cullings, Miles Marteal, and Larsson Wing) - Junior Men's 4+s, Sunday 11:58 am.  Bow #41.
- Coach Marion Penning  (2) - Director's Challenge Mixed Eights (Baltimore Rowing Club), Sunday 4:12 pm, Bow #10

On Sunday, October 13, Cascadilla scholastic crews competed in their third race of the season - the recently reinstated Head of the Onondaga in Syracuse. The race coincided nicely with peak foliage and a fall festival. 

In what was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, Head Coach Theresa Alessio dominated the pumpkin race! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our esteemed head coach hopped into a surprisingly large and buoyant pumpkin, grabbed a kayak paddle, and made us proud with her versatile athleticism. Thanks to Varsity parent Lindsay Anderson for the photos. 

As for the actual rowing...CBC competed in numerous events, giving our athletes ample chances to challenge themselves with multiple races in a day. Our crews won the Junior Men's 1V 4+, and both Junior Women's 4+s events. Our state champion 2x of Isabelle Zanen and Deborah Hoffstaetter teamed up once again to dominate the Women's Junior 2x race, besting the competition by over two minutes. Way to go, ladies! The Junior Women's 1V 8+ finished a mere two seconds behind Niskayuna (Coach Greta's alma mater!).  CBC boats placed second in the Junior Men's 2V 4+ and the Junior Women's Novice 4+, 3rd in the Junior Men's 1V 8+, and 4th in the Junior Men's 2V4+,  Junior Women's 2x,  and Junior Women's 4x. Full results available here: https://www.row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=86E24098688129397C3DCD101678026D&cat=6. 

On to the Charles! 

Cascadilla Boat Club had a great day at the Genesee! Our scholastic rowers, several of our masters, and the Cornell Rowing Club all sent a number of boats to Rochester to compete against crews from all over Central and Western New York, as well as some Canadians. 

The scholastic squad brought home some hardware, with the  girls' 1V 8+, 1V 4+, and 2V 4+ all placing second behind Pittsford. In addition, the boys' 1V 4+ placed fourth in their event in a field of nine boats, boys' 2V 4+ placed sixth of ten, girls' 4x placed fifth of eight, boys' 1V 8+ placed seventh of eight, and girls' 2x placed eight of twelve. 

CBC's novices got to experience their first regatta - our boys' Novice 4+ placed third, and the girls' Novice 4+ was fifth of seven boats. Competing is always a learning experience, and we can't wait to see how our novices apply what they've learned next week at the Head of the Onondaga! 

CBC swept the Men's Master's 1x with Tim Willsallen taking 1st, Kim McKnight in 2nd, and Marty van der Heide in 3rd.  Emily Rockett won the women's open 1x by over a minute, and Sara Beth Leach took third in the same event. Rockett and Sara Beth teamed up to win the Women's Masters 2x event. Coaches Theresa Alessio and Tim Willsallen competed in the mixed masters 2x event - posting the faster raw time but sadly failing to overcome the 38 second relative handicap given to their opponents. 

Our friends at the Cornell Rowing Club also had a great debut performance at the Genesee! In case you didn't know, the Cornell Rowing Club was established in 2017 and shares our boathouse.  Currently, they row twice a week (weather permitting, of course) and are coached by Emily Rockett and Sara Beth Leach. Any Cornell student who wishes to participate may do so - we have a nice mix of people who have never rowed before and former high school and collegiate rowers. The CRC sent a men's 4+ to the masters race, where they had the third fastest raw time (5th place with age handicaps). They also had a women's 4+ finish fourth in the masters race. CRC also had a mixed 8+ in the Exhibition category, who rowed unopposed due to a scratch, but nonetheless pulled their guts out, steered a good course, and had a great time! 

Full results available here: https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results/6390_10357.pdf

Head Coach Theresa and Coach Tim in the Mixed Masters 2x! 

CBC's boys and girls varsity squads competed on Saturday, September 29, at the Lift Bridge Regatta in Pittsford, New York. CBC had boats competing in the Girls 1st Varsity 8+, Boys 1st Varsity 8+*,  Boys Varsity 4+, Girls Varsity 4+, Boys 2nd 4+, Men's Open 2x, and Women's HS/Open/Masters 4x**. 

The teams  had a solid start to the racing season, with some impressive sculling performances. Our boys' 2x won their event, soundly defeating two McQuaid boats by over a minute and a half. Our Girls 4x posted the fastest raw time in their mixed age group race (they technically placed second to a masters crew with a 54 second handicap...). 

On the sweep side, our Girls' 1st Varsity 8 , our Girls' Varsity 4+, our Boys Varsity 4+, and our  Boys 2nd 4+ all placed second, behind perpetual rivals Pittsford (on said perpetual rivals' home course).  

The teams will compete on Sunday, October 6, at the Head of the Genesee in Rochester, New York. Go after those Pittsford crews, CBC!   

Full results available here: https://www.regattacentral.com/regatta/results/6492_10348.pdf. 

*The + next to a boat name denotes that it is a coxed boat
**The X next to a boat name denotes that it is a sculling boat