Crews from the Bromfield Acton-Boxborough rowing team battled the choppy waters of the Merrimack River at the New Hampshire Championships George Dirth Memorial Regatta Sunday, Oct. 15. The 3-mile head race starts in Hooksett and finishes at Memorial Park in Pembroke. Organizers say it is the largest rowing event north of Boston, drawing 2,000 athletes including, this year, a crew from South Africa; the slightly less exotic Wayland-Weston team brought the team-points trophy home to Massachusetts. None of the five varsity BA-B boats placed for a medal, though one girls double finished fourth.
The BA-B varsity girls sent three relatively inexperienced doubles to the event. By the time their race started, the water was churning with whitecaps. “The fact that they all made it up the course in one piece is a good day,” said program director and varsity girls coach Holly Hatton. “This is a daunting experience for any crew, but particularly for the smaller boats. I was pleased to see the girls do as well as they did.”
With the top boats practicing for the upcoming Head of the Charles, two boys 8s took on more challenging competition than usual in the first and second varsity events. “I was very happy to see how strongly the boys performed racing two categories ahead of their boat class. The results are a testament to their hard work,” said varsity boys coach Brian DeDominici.
In Cambridge, the Head of the Charles crews spent the morning negotiating the meanders and bridges of that storied course—very important prep work for the marquee event, which takes place Oct. 21 and 22. “The crews had a great morning rowing over the course and learning the turns,” DeDominici said. Hatton added, “A coxswain doing a great job on steering can make a big difference in the results for a crew.”
Race Results
Varsity Girls
- 2x: Sophie Bodager and Molly O’Neill, fourth place, 22:55.9; Hayley Minar and Sophia DeFoe, seventh place, 23:31.3; and Molly Bowers and Emma Perkins, 14th place, 27:07.0
Varsity Boys
- 4+ A Flight: Cameron McGurk, Andrew Huang, Stefan Scornavacca, Nikhil Kommenini, and coxswain Chloe Kranz, 15th place, 17:57.9
- 4+ B, C, and D Flight: Oliver Smalanskas, Max Ewing, John Hawes, Will Bardenheuer, and coxswain Sarah Burke, seventh place, 19:18.6
- 8 A Flight: Zachary Shamah, Alexander Weaver, Andrew Huang, Andrew Hill, Isaiah Osborn, Sam Jackson, Charles Carbonell, Patrick Stoffel, and coxswain Sarah Burke, 12th place, 16:32.0
- 8 B, C, and D Flight: Benjamin Boucher, John Kelley, Ryan Camposano, Maxfield Mascarin, John Hawes, Zachary Myers, Talmage Lindsey, Will Bardenheuer, and coxswain Bri Baang, 20th place, 18:15.6
Jill Maxwell is a parent of a BA-B rower.
