Burton Beach junior rowers start season at Tail of the Lake

October 10, 2018 1:30 am
BBRC’s Mabel Moses stopping “traffic” on her way to a silver medal in the open women’s single at Sunday’s Tail of the Lake regatta on Lake Union. (Leanne Norby Photo)
BBRC’s Mabel Moses stopping “traffic” on her way to a silver medal in the open women’s single at Sunday’s Tail of the Lake regatta on Lake Union. (Leanne Norby Photo)

After a long break from racing in the spring, the Burton Beach Rowing Club returned to the regatta scene with 11 boats competing. The Tail is the the first major regatta of the Northwest fall season and saw competitors from Washington and Oregon participating with 36 clubs and 432 crews (boats) entered. BBRC started its season strong, with top five finishes coming from eight of its 11 entries.

Leading the way for the club was Vashon High School senior Mabel Moses, who came in second in the open women’s single. It was a remarkable performance for a junior lightweight, who was only bested in a field of 14 by Sophia Deniston-Johnston, a member of the 2018 U.S. U23 National Team.

Other silver medal finishes came from the junior men’s quad (Jordon Rutschow, Dylan Carmody, Willem Brown, Brian DeLoach), the junior women’s four (Gabbie Graves, Kate Kelly, Ros Bellscheidt, Ava Lorentzen, coxed by Olivia White) and the junior women’s quad (Bellscheidt, White, Ruta Milewski and Lorentzen).

A promising novice boys’ quad was derailed by a problem with an oarlock, but the crew of Davis Kelly, Sam Walker, JoeBarnes, and Bronwyn White, coxed by Jewel Wass de Czege, showed its determination by rowing with three people for most of the race, and still coming fourth out of the seven entries. Kelly and Rutschow had a solid race in the junior men’s double, coming fourth out of 17 crews in a race where Oregon Unlimited took the top three spots.

Coach Richard Parr was pleased with the overall efforts of the Burton Beach gang.

“It was a good first regatta,” he said. “We learned some things, and we’re looking forward to making strides as the season continues.”

Next weekend the team is off to American Lake, south of Tacoma, for its annual Fall Classic regatta.

— Sarah Low, Beachcomber reporter and wife of coach Richard Parr