PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots women’s rowing team trains in a variety of ways in order to prepare themselves for their competitions. Because it is possible to row year-round in Portland, the team is on the Willamette River throughout the academic year. And like the other varsity sports teams, the rowers train in the newly expanded Chiles Center weight room under the guidance of the department’s Athletic Performance Coaches. They also spend time on indoor rowing machines, more commonly called ergometers, which are located on the infield of the Chiles Center indoor track.
Most college and high school rowing teams start their spring season competition in March. In order to keep the competitive fires stoked though, there are a number of indoor rowing races held throughout the country in January and February. There is even a world championships for indoor rowing, the CRASH-B regatta held in Boston. Because of some NCAA rules regarding indoor racing, most college rowing teams conduct their rowing machine races, or ergometer tests, on their own instead of during the public events. In order to capture the spirit and spectacle of an indoor regatta, the Pilots decided to stage the inaugural Chiles Center Sprints for the team on Friday morning (Photo gallery below).
The rowers were divided into teams of five along with a coxswain to act as team captain. Each team chose their own name and uniform for the event and was responsible for their individual goals, warm-up, and race plan. Throughout the event music was pumped through the Chiles Center sound system to help keep everyone excited. Through race software provided by Concept2, the rowing machine manufacturing company, each group of five raced simulated boats across the screen of their performance monitors and the races were projected onto a large screen so that the rest of the team and the coaches and spectators could follow the races.
The Chiles Center Sprints resulted in a lot of strong performances from the UP team. Senior Mia Tarte led the way, setting the fastest time of the day, only a few seconds off of the team record. Freshman Molly Templin, a former ski racer from Anchorage, Alaska, had the second fastest time of the day. Other strong performances came from the trio of freshmen recruits: Bridget Sloat of Bainbridge Island Rowing Club, Hannah Johnson from Green Lake Crew, and Peri Parsons from Ashland Rowing Club. Sophomore Sarah Donohoe and freshman Maggie Keller, regulars in the first boat line-up, also set strong personal bests.
The results from today’s ergometer race were used to set the line-ups for tomorrow’s on-the-water practice. The Pilots open the spring season in a split squad format on March 2. The top crew will head to Seattle to face University of Washington and Western Washington University, while the rest of the team will stay in Portland to scrimmage with Lewis and Clark College.
