By PAT CALL
For The Beachcomber
On Sunday, Oct. 4, on Seattle’s Lake Union, almost 500 rowing shells racing in nearly 50 events were greeted by a glorious fall day.
For most rowers, the Tail of the Lake head race is the first major contest of the fall rowing season and a chance to work off a little rust over the 4,000-meter course that proceeds counterclockwise around Lake Union from under the Aurora Bridge, along the west shore to South Lake Union with its many construction cranes, back along the eastern edge of the lake to finish in front of a recently renovated and revitalized Gas Works park.
Vashon entered both masters and junior events on Sunday, 22 in total, coming away with three gold, three silver and five bronze ribbons.
The junior men’s novice crew was easily the standout for the day, taking two firsts (in the eight and four events) and a third- place finish in the coxed quad. Case Foster (stroke), Beckett Reid, Jackson Higuera and Andreas Stark returned home with two golds each and were joined in the eight by Aidan Teachout, Kale Scheer, Oz Hichens and Nelson Giorgini. Both boats were coxed by Olivia Mackie.
The junior women’s pair of Riley Lynch (stroke) and Rhea Enzian (bow) also started their season off with a strong win in the open women’s pair. Bringing home silver ribbons were the novice junior women’s coxed quad and four and the open women’s quad.
Additional bronze ribbon winners were three masters’ boats (the men’s double and quad and a mixed quad) and the junior men’s quad. Heroine of the day was senior KaiLi Scheer who, having opted to sit out the fall season, was hunted down at Gas Works Park while watching her younger brother row and conscripted to join the junior women’s eight to fill in for an injured rower.
Coach Richard Parr summed up the day by saying, “I am really pleased about the efforts, especially for the first racing of the season. We saw a dominant performance by Riley Lynch and Rhea Enzian in the pair, really strong showings by both our novice junior men’s and women’s teams and a nice first showing for our new-look varsity junior women’s quad.”
A car wash will be held to raise money for the juniors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the IGA parking lot. Next weekend, two junior boats and a masters’ boat will travel to Boston for the Head of the Charles regatta, Oct. 17-18. The remaining juniors will stay in Washington for the American Lake Regatta at Commencement Bay on Oct. 18.
— Pat Call is the parent of a Vashon junior rower.
