2020 Head of the Oak Regatta
Strokes Admin
The Oakland Strokes Novice and Varsity athletes had a great day of racing out at San Pablo Reservoir in Orinda, CA on Saturday October 17, 2020. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have not been able to experience the typical Fall racing season and the event at San Pablo certainly wasn't a normal race day. There were no other teams, (almost) no parent volunteers, no spectators (other than fisherman giving us side-eye), and little fanfare, but our athletes nevertheless raced their hearts out.
All athletes, from first year novice rowers, varsity coxswains, and varsity rowers all raced in the singles (1x boat) that they have been training in since the 2020 Fall season started in early September. It was awesome to see the singles come down the course one by one, each athlete totally in charge of their own boat.
For many of our athletes this was their first race in a single. Social distancing protocols has precluded the team from training and competing in our usual team boats: fours and eights (4+ and 8+). The real stars of the show were the athletes. For the Novices it was their first race experience ever! They handled it with grace and style, and a minimal amount of misadventure. The race had three different race course lengths: Oak (~4700m), Sapling (~3333m), and Sprout (~1300m)
Results can be found here
We have heard so many words of encouragement from our parents and are grateful for them every time. This year has been hard on athletes and coaches alike and success is only possible because everyone is working hard to make it happen. The last race event the team participated in was the Faultline Faceoff Regatta the Strokes hosted at San Pablo in February 2020.
Since we were not allowed to have parent volunteers on site the coaches ran everything from the start line, to water safety, to the timing. It also made us really appreciate the parent volunteers that are normally helping us run our regattas. We did sneak a few parents on site to photograph the day. We want to give a huge thank you to Shirley DeFrancisci, Jane Violich, and Dave Reilly for taking on the task of getting photos of all of the rowers. We know it is small consolation for not being able to come watch, but hopefully the photos will help bridge the gap for parents, grandparents, friends, and family.
The athletes and coaches are looking forward to our next race held at the Oakland Estuary on November 21 2020.
View Shirley’s Photos (aka DefStop photography)
The Oakland Strokes is a competitive rowing team for all athletes in 6th through 12th grade from across the East Bay Area. The Novice team is for all first year high school athletes regardless of experience, and Varsity is for all experienced rowers and coxswains. The high school team trains and races in the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons. Middle School beginner and intermediate rowing is offered March thru October.
