Strokes Victorious at 2016 Head of the Lake and Head of the American

The Oakland Strokes varsity men’s and women’s team excelled once again at the Head of the Lake Regatta in Seattle, Washington, highlighted by gold medals in two events.  The Head of the Lake is one of the West Coast’s largest Fall regattas and is held annually on a course which starts on Lake Union, runs through the Montlake Cut and finishes on Lake Washington in front of the University of Washington boathouse.

The Varsity Women raced a fast second half of the race course to finish in 2nd place, beating all the Northwest teams and finishing just behind regional rivals Capital Crew from Sacramento.  The women’s B entry rowed a strong race to finish 9th in the event.  In the Under-17 Women’s 8+ the Strokes started fourth on the course and powered past all of the crews in front of them to win their event by more than 1 minute.

The Varsity Men’s team successfully defended last year’s victory, placing 1st, 4th and 9th in the Junior Men’s 8+ over a host of Northwest crews and regional rivals Norcal (2nd place) and Capital Crew (3rd place).  The team showed its depth with both the B and C entries beating all other B entries from the other teams.

Results for the Head of the Lake can be found here!

Not to be outdone by their Varsity counterparts, the Novice Women’s team raced to a gold medal at the Head of the American Regatta in Sacramento in the Women’s Junior Novice 8+. The win capped a great day of racing by members of both the Women’s Novice and Varsity teams at the regatta.

Results for head of the American can be found here!

Strokes Varsity Men Win Gold And Varsity Women Place 5th Overall At 2016 Head Of The Charles

The Oakland Strokes youth rowing club men’s varsity eight won gold at The Head of The Charles Regatta in Boston while the women’s varsity eight took 5th place on Sunday, October 23, 2016.

L-R Calum McLaren (Alameda High School), Jason Sun (College Prep), Brian Mundelius (San Ramon Valley HS), Spencer Dettlinger (San Ramon Valley HS), Rohan Saha (Piedmont HS), Noah Kim (Independent Charter School), Nikita Lilichenko (Miramonte HS), Matias Hoite (Berkeley HS), Kai Hoite (Berkeley HS), Coach Brian de Regt

The Oakland Strokes varsity men braved extremely windy and cold weather to win the regatta for the second time in the past three years.  The men beat their regional rivals and defending champions Marin Rowing Association in a strong field of crews that featured 84 crews.  Varsity Men’s Head Coach Brian de Regt credited the crew for their performance, saying, "We are very pleased with how the boys responded to the conditions and competition. The year is just beginning but it's encouraging to have a positive result so early in the process. This is a young group and we're looking forward to watching how they move forward from here."

L-R Annika Heuser (Piedmont HS), Anna Elmgren (Oakland Tech), Amanda Alessandria (Campolindo HS), Analisa Pines (College Prep), Riley Eversole (Miramonte HS), Zoe Cheng (Head-Royce School), Kate Miles (Campolindo HS), Limor Dubrovsky (Acalanes HS), Caroline Ricksen (Miramonte HS)

The Oakland Strokes women also had a strong race, fighting the conditions to pass the crew from Mercer Rowing Club on their way to a 5th place showing.  The crew fared well against another strong field of 85 crews representing the fastest teams from the country.  Interim Varsity Women’s Head Coach Anita Sarrett highlighted the strength of her crew, noting, "Racing at the Head of the Charles is always a great opportunity to see how we stack up against teams from all over the country as well as overseas. The girls stepped up to the challenge of racing in difficult conditions and to place top 5 in such a deep field is a very exciting result. I was impressed with the maturity and toughness with which the Charles 8+ attacked the training and race day and we are looking forward to building on this result for our remaining fall races."

The Head of The Charles is one of the world’s preeminent rowing competitions, featuring races for U.S. and international rowers of all ages and abilities. This year marked the 52nd running of the race, which is the largest two day rowing regatta in the world. The 2016 Regatta attracted over 10,000 competitors from 28 different countries, including 30 gold medalists from the Rio Olympics.