PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots women's rowing team will begin the 2012 spring season with a series of races against Lewis & Clark and a boat christening on Saturday morning near the Portland Boathouse on the east bank of the Willamette River. The race is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., while the boat christening will take place at 10:30 a.m.
“The team is excited to get the racing season started,” said UP head coach Bill Zack. “This is the end of our spring break, and the team has accomplished a lot and has really come together. This will be a great way to end the week.”
Saturday’s event against the Lewis & Clark Pioneers will feature four 1,000 meter “mini” races on the Willamette River. The starting line will be just south of the Ross Island Bridge, and the 1,000 meter course will run south down the Holgate
Channel, finishing near the Ross Island Lagoon.
The Pilots first eight will race against both the Lewis & Clark first eight and the Pioneers top men’s four. UP’s second and third eight’s will race Lewis & Clark’s second eight and a second men’s four.
The meet will be followed by a boat christening and the naming of the two newest Pilot boats at the Portland Boathouse. UP’s eight-person shell will be named ‘Fr. Bill’ in honor of University President, Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., while the four-person shell will be named ‘Al and Sue Corrado’ in honor of the Life Regents and longtime supporters of UP athletics. Al Corrado is a class of ’55 alumnus.
“The new equipment demonstrates the University’s support of the rowing team,” said Zack, “and we’re thrilled to honor Father Beauchamp and the Corrados, all of whom do so much for the entire University and the Athletic Department as well.”
Zack noted that UP’s co-captains will express the team’s appreciation during the christening ceremony.
The Portland Boathouse is located on the east bank of the Willamette River at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge, just north of OMSI.
