Georgia Tech, Clemson, UVA, Texas top competition in weekend racing

The Head of the South, the Rivanna Romp and the Waco Rowing Regatta all concluded last weekend with Georgia Tech, Clemson, UVA, and Texas topping the field at their respective events.

In Augusta, Georgia, the Head of the South welcomed over 40 teams and 1,100 rowers to at 5,000-meter course on the Savannah River. The Clemson club team claimed wins in women’s club eight, the women’s club four, the men’s collegiate and club novice eight and the women’s collegiate and club novice four. Georgia Tech’s club was at the top as well with first place finishes in the men’s club pair, the men’s club four, the men’s lightweight four, the men’s championship four, the men’s collegiate and club novice four and the men’s club eight.

“The race has some good challenges,” said race director Kirsten Aylward. “We have four different bridges that the rowers have to navigate. We also have some river obstacles—a couple of weed beds and old bridge abutments that make the course interesting. They go under a very old railroad trestle bridge and that’s one of the elements you see on our logo.”

In addition to the usual obstacles this year the regatta was forced to make some alterations to the course to damage from Hurricane Helene.

“They start up at the Hammond’s Ferry dock in North Augusta and the finish line is in the RiverNorth community,” stated Aylward. “Hurricane Helene moved some things around on us in the river. It flooded pretty high. Our finish line this year was about 150 meters up stream with a new dock because the dock that we had been using is now on dry land. It’s been a bit of a challenge with the hurricane, but we’ve had a lot of good partners from the community who’ve helped us get ready.”

In addition to the Head of the South, the Rivanna Romp took place on Sunday, November 10, and the UVA women’s rowing team swept the varsity eight, varsity four and novice eight outperforming Duke, Minnesota and North Carolina to cap off their fall season. The varsity eight crossed the 4,000-meter racecourse finish line with a winning time of 13:26.6.

The Texas Longhorns women’s rowing team had five entries in the women’s collegiate eight at the Waco Rowing Regatta on the Brazos River. With some exciting intersquad racing the “B” entry earned the fastest 5K time in 16:47.2.

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