What started out as a little friendly competition is now an annual ritual to mark the start of the spring season for the Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC). The Masters vs. Juniors Scrimmage, held last Saturday morning with near-perfect conditions on Quartermaster Harbor, pitted younger rowers in the club against masters.
The coveted prize for the scrimmage is the One Guinea Pig Cup — a humorous riff on the 100 Guinea Cup awarded in sailing — and the trophy is given to the fastest mixed eight boat. This year, the masters aimed to break the juniors’ winning streak for the Cup, but couldn’t best the junior boat. Junior team captains David Nguyen and Riley Lynch accepted the trophy from outgoing VIRC President Colby Atwood.
The sunny day was a welcome respite from the months of practice in wet and cold weather, and rowers took full advantage of the day, completing more than a dozen races over the course of the morning, including some pairing masters and junior rowers together.
The masters women out-rowed the novice junior girls in a race of coxswained 4s, just squeaking out a victory. In a mixed doubles race, masters Mark Ripley and Lea Heffernan held off master Bob Horsely and junior Riley Lynch.
“As always, it was great to see how much laughter and camaraderie our rowing club has,” VIRC head coach Richard Parr said. “Even though our athletes range from 11 to 74 years old, there is something about rowing that unites everyone. The racing was tough and exciting, but the overall atmosphere was one of fun.”
The scrimmage is also an opportunity to work on racing technique practiced over the first weeks of the season. Parr said this was particularly evident with the lightweight Girls 4+, who turned on the power in the middle of their race with good results. Because the race was held with staggered starts, some boats essentially chased others up the 1,000-meter course. Junior Aidan Teachout, in a single, was pursued by junior lightweight girls Olivia White and Ruta Milewski as they all won their races.
“We have a young junior team this year. There is a lot to work on, but the speed seems to be coming,” Parr said.
VIRC has a packed spring regatta schedule, starting with the Salt Water Scrimmage next Sunday. The club will host Bainbridge Island and Olympia Area Rowing at Jensen Point.
— Anne Higuera has two sons who participated in VIRC’s fall rowing season.
