Burton Beach Invitational draws large crowds to Vashon

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 23, 2022

The Burton Beach Rowing Club (BBRC) hosted the annual Burton Beach Invitational, presented by Windermere Vashon, at Jensen Point on Sunday, March 20.

The event attracted more than 500 rowers and spectators to the island for an exciting day of rowing on Quartermaster Harbor.

“It was great to see the park filled with boat trailers and so much energy after such a long absence during the pandemic,” said BBRC coach Richard Parr. “The island has been such a great support to our club. It feels good to bring so many people to the island, both so that we can share the beauty of where we live and also so we can help support the community that has supported us.”

The Burton Beach Club led the event with seven gold medal wins, followed by Oregon Unlimited with six. The two clubs tied for the overall win in points, with 48 points each. In regattas, five points are awarded for each gold, three for each silver, and one point for each bronze. Seattle Prep was close behind with 45 points and took home the most medals of the day with a total of 17.

The day started out with the Boy’s U19 single. Three heats were run with a total of 23 rowers with Timothy Parsons from South Eugene taking the gold. BBRC’s Davis Kelly took the team’s first medal of the day when he finished second, three seconds behind the leader.

The second race of the day, the Girl’s U15 Single, finished in a dead heat, with BBRC’s Ella Odegard and Lake Oswego’s Juliet Bohn both winning gold. BBRC won gold again in the third race when the Boy’s Novice Double, rowed by Zack Merrigan and Avery Davis won gold.

Merrigan and Davis won gold again when they teamed up with Nate Wass de Czege and Forest Macnab in the Boy’s Novice Quad. Merrigan took a third gold medal on the day when he won the Boy’s U15 single. The team also won gold in the Girl’s Novice Single, with Kaylee Radford leading the way for BBRC.

The Vashon Island Rowing Club added two gold medals of their own. The Boy’s U15 Quad took gold for Vashon with rowers Quentin Cherry, Will Parker, Alexander Nelson, and Henry Cooper. The Girl’s Novice Quad also won gold with rowers Selene Dalinis, Laurel Calhoun, Julianna Steffens, and Ava Webb.

The weather played a role in the regatta early on. The races were shortened to 1000 meters from the originally planned 1500 meters due to wind. The course was moved west to avoid the strongest winds, but moving it meant it had to be shortened.

The weather didn’t deter spectators, though. Jensen Point was filled with people enjoying the day and cheering on racers from the beach when they weren’t running back and forth into town to pick up refreshments for the racers.

The BBRC took gold in two other events, first in the Girls Novice Coxed Four rowed by Taylor Huffman, Haley Hopper, Lilli Johnson, Molly McMillin and coxed by Caroline Barnes. Barnes also coxed the winning Boys Novice Coxed Four rowed by Davis, Wass de Czege, Macnab, and Grant Gonter.

“We’re so grateful for the amazing support we receive from this community,” said Heather Carmody, the event organizer. “We couldn’t pull off an event like this without the support from local businesses who sponsored the event.”

In addition to BBRC and the Vashon Island Rowing Club, ten other clubs made the trek to the island from as far away as Ashland, Oregon.

The Lake Oswego club, based in the Portland area, extended their stay on the island through mid-week to get in some more rowing in Quartermaster Harbor.

“With our athletes on Spring Break, we wanted to take a few more days to explore a part of the Pacific Northwest that we hadn’t seen before,” said the club’s coach, Simon Hoadley.

Once all the boats were loaded and the last trailers departed, the team took time to clean up the park and then reflect on the event.

“There is a moment at the end when you feel this sense of accomplishment,” said Carmody. “An event like this is really complicated to pull off, it takes a huge team of volunteers which there is never shortage of on this island. We’re excited it went well and we’re already planning for next year.”