Still iced in, but Detroit Boat Club
will start its crew season Saturday

The water will have to wait a few weeks, but Grosse Pointe teens will be among those launching the Detroit Boat Club's 173rd year as the rowing team begins its 2011 campaign Saturday (Feb. 5) at their annual Motown Madness Indoor Rowing Competition at the boathouse on Belle Isle.

The 2011 crew includes students from Grosse Pointe South and North High Schools, Brownell Middle School, University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Mercy High School, Detroit Country Day and Birmingham Seaholme to date.

This season, DBCC looks to veteran leadership from team captains Alix Chrumka and Laine Maher for the women and Zach Jatkowski, Trevor Duncan and Elijah Dillard for the men.

Coach Dick Bell is in his fourth decade of leading the program, under which he himself rowed.

"We are really looking forward to the spring season," said Bell. "We are returning with varsity crew that have been to the national championships the last several years and we are expecting them to lead their teammates as we move toward the championships in Tennessee in 2011."

The Detroit Boast Club Crew is defending its title as 2010 Women's Youth Double National Champions, which Grosse Pointers Chrumka and Allison DeClercq won last spring. That DBCC double was joined at the Youth Nationals by the Men's Youth Double, the Men's Youth Lightweight Eight and the Women's Youth Lightweight Eight, which all had medaled at the Midwest Championships to qualify. Many of these rowers are the leaders of this year's crew.

After they host Motown Madness, the team heads south to compete in the Cincinnati Indoor Rowing Championships which are a feeder for the Crash B Sprints National Regatta. The indoor season ends with a quick trip downriver to Grosse Isle for the Island Sprints Indoor Regatta.

The first stop of the on-the-water season will be the Golden Bear Invitational in Columbus April 2.

The following weekend the club will host their own regatta in the Detroit River off Belle Isle. Teams from the Detroit area and Ohio are expected to compete in the Dossin Invitational, a match race held on the Canadian side of the island which finishes right in front of the Dossin Great Lakes Museum.

The team will spend its spring break in Harsha Lake, Ohio, in spring training. The first stop is the Hoover Invitational in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, followed by a week of intense training on Harsha Lake outside of Cincinnati as they gear up for the Midwest National Championships in Cincinnati and the National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

"This is always a game changing event for us" Coach Bell noted. "We head into spring training after a rigorous season of erging and strength training but little if any water time. We come out honed, focused and, if everyone did their jobs correctly, winning medals. Needles to say, we look forward to another successful season."

Grosse Pointe South and Grosse Pointe North students are eligible to receive their varsity letters for rowing in the spring. For Detroit Country Day students, rowing on the DBCC Crew is now one of the qualified means of attaining blue points because of the elite level of national completion.

Any high school athletes interested in getting on the water and joining this select sports program are encouraged to visit the Detroit Boat Club Crew website or email the coaches.
 

• Login or register to post comments
• Printer-friendly version
• Send by email