Lucas Brown
Connector Contributor

The UMass Lowell Rowing clubs season is drawing to a close. There are only two races left in the season for the only River Hawks actually competing on rivers, the two biggest races; The New England Rowing Championship and the Dad Vails Regatta in Philadelphia. Where we last left off, our boys in row boats had just suffered an unfortunate loss at home against Colby College and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. I am proud to share that River Hawks rowing applied what they learned losing against the two very admirable aforementioned crews. The day after those losing races, UML Rowing took first in two races against crews from Union and Franklin Marshall Colleges, on Lake Quinsigamond.

Lake Quinsigamond is located in Worcester MA, it’s a very active rowing course and place for water sports. The River Hawks are no stranger to this course, yet that Sunday was a first time there for many members of the team. The unfamiliar territory and the cloudier weather perhaps helped put the boys into a less distracted mind-set. The boats were set and balanced as they rowed to the starting line, no sunlight to comfort or blind them. The wind was fierce, and a few hundred meters before reaching the starting line, the skies opened up. With the howling gusts bearing down on them, soaked to the bone, dry land hundreds of meters away, not a word was said in the boat.

The River Hawks gritted their teeth at the starting line and loaded up there first strokes. Row! The boat-master’s call ignited the race; Union and Franklin-Marshall crews fired off the start. The UML second varsity boat had a slightly less explosive start, and the UML novice boat even more so. The race didn’t look good for River Hawks rowing at the 500 meter mark, with the second varsity boat trailing by the length of a boat, the novice boat two lengths. But the River Hawks weren’t beaten; they were rowing well, consistently, better than the competition. By 1000 meters, things looked less dire for the second varsity boat, by 1500, it was bow and bow. In the last 500 meters the River Hawks snatched up a win; we swooped down on victory as an unsuspecting bunny we were to make a meal of. It was anyone’s race until the end. The following race only featured one crew from UML, but they were our tallest and fastest rowers. The UML first varsity boat rowed hard, winning by an even slimmer margin against crews twice as competitive. After the race, Head Coach Cormier circled everyone up to say he didn’t have much to say, everyone had done great, had brought there all. On Sunday April 13th, UML Rowing left Lake Quinsigamond with heads held high and ranks held higher.

The weekend following, the 13, the 19, was the greater Boston regional invitational regatta, here on the Merrimack. It was a much less victorious day for UML Rowing, the highest any boat placed was second; congrats women’s varsity four boat. Neither of the men’s varsity boats placed higher than fourth. It’s worth considering that they were up against many more crews from some extremely competitive schools, but even then, the general sentiment among the team was disappointment. Not just the disappointment of a team that didn’t work together to their full capacity, also the disappointment of individuals who know they could have pushed harder. River Hawks rowing did well enough to get a spot in the New England Rowing championships, but no one has any illusions about the level of strength we’ll have to reach to be able to medal.

I sat down with the captain of UML Rowing, Jonah Sakala. He’s currently rowing third seat in the first varsity eight boat, starboard side. He’s six foot three inches, right at the Olympic cut off, and he began his journey on the water here, at UML, on the Merrimack. I wanted an official comment on the team’s performance in the Boston regional invitational race, but he reminded me that he is no longer acting as president of the team. As rowing is the only varsity club, head Coach David Cormier assumes the responsibility of a club president. So I asked him to reduce his comment down to his boats performance in the race, as captain, he said “there’s other races I’d rather talk about”. I was of a similar mind, and so I asked Jonah his story of captaining the metaphorical and literal boat(s) of UML Rowing over the years. Jonah didn’t start rowing till college, and he reminds me that over seventy percent of rowers in the summer Olympics last year were in the same boat. When Jonah started rowing here, the club consisted of exactly two boats, a novice and a varsity. Now, on any given day, we’ll launch and practice with up four to six different boats, men and women’s. Jonah did everything he could last year as club president to get us there; every meeting, every extra hour at the boat house.

I asked him “When was the first moment you really fell in love with rowing; when did you decide you were a rower?” he said “my first race, no one really knew what they were doing, it was kind of a shit show, but we ended up winning our race, and from then I was hooked”. An Olympic rower has Jonah’s height and strength, but more importantly, an Olympian doesn’t get ahead of himself, an Olympian makes haste slowly. Jonah is always a realist, but it is a reality the he would not be the first Olympian produced by the UMass Lowell Bellegarde Boathouse.

Jonah will prove he’s an Olympian before I can quote him saying he aims to be, and when you consider what that means it is at the very heart of rowing. To be a great Rower is almost inherently Olympian; He doesn’t need to state that goal. To be an Olympian is to take a sport, and be the best at it; the strongest, the most accurate, the fastest. Rowing is as old as boats, which are almost as old as civilization; the Ancient Egyptians rowed as sport. And the Ancient Egyptians, or Greeks, or Romans, all rowed at the same goal; to be faster. The same dream any rower still gets up to chase; to be the fastest they can be. Rowing is faster than it has ever been, and in pursuit of that dream, people have learned more than you could ever imagine, about more than just rowing faster. This is the heart of the Olympic spirit, and why Rowing has been an Olympic sport for a very long time.

To even try to be a rower is to achieve a level of greatness that is not achieved as efficiently by any other sport, and the Merrimack is a damn fine river to try on. UMass Lowell Rowing, try it; be a little Olympian, be an actual River Hawk.