Hello from a still-frozen Hilltop!

March finds the Hoya rowing programs facing a completely frozen Potomac and spring training fast approaching. Thankfully, this year we decided to move our training trip from January to March and head to Sarasota, Florida for spring training instead of staying in DC. The team is excited to fly to Florida for eight days of warm-weather rowing on the Manatee River. The heavyweight men’s team is also training nearby in Benderson Park and we’re looking forward to having some fun together as a full team down south.

The team is coming off our best winter training yet, both in terms of erg scores and in terms of culture. We consistently measure four major levels of fitness throughout the year to assess the effectiveness of our training program: 1-minute test, 30-minute test, 6,000m test and 2,000m test. It’s been incredible to see the improvement in every area, particularly when we test them at times during the training cycle that are more difficult to perform than others. On January 27, Georgetown won both the Lightweight Collegiate and Openweight Collegiate events at the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints (freshman lightweight Allie Garceau and sophomore openweight Christina Johnson). Sophomore openweight Margaret Dunne finished third and senior lightweight Ruthie Speidel finished second. The full story can be found here.

This is the hungriest, most coachable and most unified group we’ve had the pleasure of working with to date. The awesome part is that this is a direct result of the women who came before this year’s group and the the leadership that’s been built each year. In particular, I want to thank the 2012, 2013 and 2014 senior classes who have led each team I’ve worked with since my arrival. Your vision and leadership are coming to fruition in ways we talked and planned and hoped for, but took more time than we had together to accomplish. You are still having an impact, even though you’re not here with us each day.

We open our season officially with the full squad against UNC and West Virginia on the Potomac on March 28 and the lightweights host Harvard-Radcliffe on April 4, also at home. I’m fired up to see how our hard work translates to boat speed this spring. If you’re in town and want to help staff regatta day, we need finish line flaggers and stake boat holders – please let me know if you can help!

If you want to keep up with us over spring training, freshman lightweight Caroline Thomas is taking a leading role by keeping a blog here. You can also keep track of us on our Facebook page or on Instagram (full squad – GUWRA and lightweights – G130).

Additionally, planning is well underway for the Women’s Rowing 40th Anniversary Celebration, coming up soon on November 6-8, 2015! If you would like to be involved, please reach out to me directly at emp86@georgetown.edu and I would be happy to connect you with the organizing committee.

I will let you know how it all goes with an update when we return. Here’s to thawing ice and warmer temperatures everywhere!