In the wee hours of the morning, Peter Woolley shovels down an energy bar as he drives to the boathouse, knowing full well that he might throw up the food within an hour.
He pulls up early, as usual, and is on the water by 5:40 a.m.
Minutes later, the Marin Rowing Club varsity 8+ boat, containing Woolley and a host of other elite rowers, glides through the Corte Madera Creek, the windless early-morning water shattered by the bow of the boat.
These morning rowing sessions, which varsity rowers have been attending for the past several weeks, are in preparation for the National Championship race, which the boys’ crew has won the past two years.
The boys and girls teams qualified for Nationals at the Regional Championship race in Sacramento. The boys came in first by a comfortable margin, according to Woolley, and the girls won by a hairline margin.
Going into Nationals with two consecutive titles under its belt, the boys’ varsity 8+ boat is the heavy favorite to win.
Although the girls’ varsity 8+ boat came in second to the Oakland Strokes at last year’s National Championship race, Woolley said they are also the favorite to win this year, since they’ve held their own with Oakland in recent races.
Throughout the regular season, the girls’ crew has raced against the Strokes four times.
First, in the Battle of the Bay, Marin was down by several boat lengths early in the race. They gradually gained on Oakland, closing in. Marin ended up beating Oakland in a photo finish.
The next race in which Marin faced Oakland was the Faultline Faceoff, which the Marin girls won by three seconds. Next came the San Diego Crew Classic, a race notorious for heavy winds. Marin, having prepared in similar conditions, beat Oakland yet again.
In the last race of the regular season, the Regional Championship, Marin was neck in neck with Oakland, but ended up losing by a slim margin.
However, one of the starting eight rowers in that race was injured, according to girls’ varsity rower Bridget Konttinen. Now healthy, she will join the rest of her crew in a final showdown against Oakland at the National Championship.
“They’ve always been our rivals,” she said. “We’ve both been battling all year and all last year.”
According to Konttinen, this long-standing rivalry is what makes both teams powerhouses.
The Strokes have also provided a challenge to the boys’ crew. Woolley said that the program has made great improvement this year.
When the Marin girls rowed against them in March, they beat them by eight seconds, but only two months later, they beat them by half as much.
This year, the girls’ varsity crew will send only one boat, their varsity 8+ boat, to the National Championship. The boys will send three: their lightweight and heavyweight 8+ boats as well as their 4+ boat. According to 4+ boat member Jake Johnson, this is the first time in recent years that Marin Rowing has sent a four-person boat to Nationals.
Johnson said that they qualified because of a technique known as “spiking.” “Spiking” involves using two of the best rowers on the 8+ boat to help a 4+ boat qualify.
The boys’ and girls’ teams, according to Konttinen, have become a lot more integrated, and have trained side-by-side more often this year than in recent years.
