Bainbridge rowers sweep spring regattas

Bainbridge Island Rowing has amassed a hefty haul of hardware this spring.

From the always challenging Brentwood Regatta, the BIR girls emerged in first place overall, out of 22 teams, with 480 points.

The Bainbridge boys were second overall out of 24 teams with 230 points, after first-place Green Lake, which had 282. And the Varsity Men’s 8+ also got a silver medal.

The regatta was held Friday, April 26 through Sunday, April 28, at Brentwood College in Mill Bay on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The team also collected 26 wins at the Covered Bridge Regatta, held Friday, April 12 through Sunday, April 14, at Dexter Lake Reservoir near Eugene, Oregon.

After Friday evening fireworks over Mill Bay and some Saturday morning races, the Brentwood Regatta went on a long pause due to windy conditions, team officials said. Most races were postponed until Sunday morning when the organizers started the events extra early to squeeze in as many as possible before noon.

But when the wind stopped and the sun broke out, BIR got to shine as well.

The varsity lightweight Women’s 8+ took gold in their final, as did the Varsity Women’s 8+, the Novice Men’s coxed quad, and the Novice Women’s 8+.

The JV Women’s 8+, the Novice Men’s 8+, and the Varsity Women’s 8+ all came home with silver medals.

The biggest varsity win at Covered Bridge two weeks earlier came near the end of racing on Sunday, April 14, with the Men’s Varsity 8+ beating seven other teams and edging out Olympia Area Rowing by just four-tenths of a second to take first place.

A BIR JV Women’s 8+ crew grabbed gold, squeezing past Olympia by seven-tenths of a second.

Next, BIR will compete in the USRowing NW Youth Championships, in Vancouver, Washington, from Thursday, May 16 through Sunday, May 19.