BI junior rowers endure hot weather, thunderstorms at nationals

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 24, 2026

The Bainbridge Island Rowing junior athletes competed in the recent U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, which featured challenges such as warm temperatures and frequent thunderstorms.

BI had 15 girls on the varsity roster this year and three boats in the national meet. The event included over 300 clubs and over 4,000 kids competing from all over the United States.

“Nationals is a lot,” BI Rowing junior athlete Hazel Hamilton said. “It’s kind of a weird regatta, because you’re missing all the usual teammates who are around. It’s sort of like a condensed team version.”

Before nationals, the BI rowers competed in the U.S. Rowing Northwest Youth Championships in Vancouver, Washington May 15-17, which served as a qualifying race for the national championships in Florida.

Leading up to nationals, the BI rowers trained six days out of the week for three weeks, practicing twice a day (from 5-7 a.m. and 3:45-5:15 p.m. after school) with Sunday being their only day off.

The average temperature in Florida for the three days the BI rowers competed was 90.5 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. With the high heat and humidity came thunderstorms as well, forcing the racers to be evacuated from the water at one point.

“This is specific to nationals, but for me and Quinn [Jackson]’s final, we did our warm-up, we were ready to race, we got up to our lane, and then they’re like, you need to go back,” BI Rowing junior athlete Abby Holland said. “We got back up to land [and] we were so discouraged. Personally, for me, I was just kind of like, okay, I guess I’m not racing.”

However, the girls got called back up after the weather cleared out and had to do a “really quick” warm-up and immediately get in line for the race. BI Rowing junior athlete Paige Murphy also dislocated her shoulder during the final leg of the race, but persevered.

Hamilton ended up placing 23rd in the U17 singles event, Holland and Murphy placed 24th in the open, and Vail Manning and Jackson placed 20th in the doubles event.