VANCOUVER, Washington – Bainbridge Island Rowing sent 31 masters (adult) rowers (20 women, 11 men) and four coxswains (two adults, two juniors) to the USRowing’s Northwest Masters Regional Championship Regatta at Vancouver Lake last weekend, returning with eight medals.

The island teams claimed two gold, three silver and three bronze medals against very strong competition from clubs not only across Washington and Oregon, but also from San Jose, Marin County and Los Gatos, California as well as North Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

Among the total of 54 clubs at the regatta were crews from many other parts of British Columbia and California, plus St. Louis, Missouri, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the New York Athletic Club and even Norwich, England.

The Bainbridge rowers competed in 13 heats and 14 finals on the 1,000-meter sprint course.

The cloud cover remained longer than expected, team officials said, all three days, which kept the temperatures to a maximum of the mid-90s rather than the real scorcher that had been forecast.

The water was a little choppy on Friday, but settled down on Saturday and was nicely calm on Sunday, they said, making for very good rowing conditions.

Although the medal count was more modest than in some previous years, officials said, this year saw a number of new rowers gaining their first experience with serious competition.

The regionals generally represent the end of the spring “sprint” racing season, though there may be one or two additional regattas during the summer.

In the fall, “head” racing will begin, with courses of 5,000 meters or more.