Racing Gets Spooky at Pumpkinhead
Across the United States, rowers embraced the fall rowing conditions and some even dressed up for the occasion in the case of Pumpkinhead in Austin, Texas.
Pumpkinhead – Head of the Colorado, which Austin Rowing Club has hosted since the mid-1980s on Lady Bird Lake, saw a myriad or rowers in costume as part of regatta tradition on Saturday.
“We have a 3K racecourse that runs from ARC east towards the Longhorn dam,” said regatta director Megan Getman. “Because the regatta is around Halloween we encourage costumes. The teams in big boats create themed costumes and they are expected to race in costume. They have to put some thought into the costume to make it rowable.”
The regatta now offers an Adaptive 1x race, allowing racing to be available and accessible to everyone. This year Texas Rowing for All had six entries.
“We had clubs from all over Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma,” Getman stated. “We also had a few international clubs this year— a few from Mexico that started coming. They’re very much fun to row with. We have juniors, collegiate, and masters. Texas Rowing Center and Austin Rowing Club usually do really well.”
In Gold Lake, California at the Head of the American, California Rowing Club took the top nine spots in the Men’s Open Single and the top two spots in the Women’s Open Single In the Women’s Collegiate Eight University of California-Berkeley claimed first and second place. On the men’s side Gonzaga University finished first in 15:51.3, over 20 seconds faster than second place Santa Clara University.
The 8th annual Music City Head Race took place on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee on the Cumberland River. University of Louisville Rowing finished first in the Women’s Collegiate Eight in 17:46.5 with Vanderbilt Rowing Club coming in second in 18:10.9. Michigan Rowing Association, who had four entries in the Men’s Collegiate Eight, took the top two spots with Virginia Tech placing third.
“Fall racing is a different game altogether and it’ll be fun to see the team participate in these races,” said Louisville coach Derek Copeland. “They had a pretty good summer and have welcomed 22 newcomers and a dozen novices from campus. The upperclassmen have done a great job showing this young group the way as we’ve nearly doubled our squad size from last year.”
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