On the last weekend of September rowers took their oars to the water in the 29th Annual Head of the Cuyahoga Regatta in Cleveland’s own Cuyahoga River. Hundreds of athletes of all ages took to the river on Saturday and Sunday for one of the largest rowing regattas in the country to try their skills on the crooked river.
“It’s an extreme economic boost to the city, you know, millions of dollars invested into the city itself, but it also involves people from all over the country and outside of the country,” said Katie Tolles, director of communications for the Cleveland Rowing Foundation.
Hosted by the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, spectators lined the Columbus Rd. peninsula to watch one of the largest regatta events in the nation. Rowing clubs around the state and country — from high schools, colleges and masters level athletes — and their families traveled to Cleveland to compete in this year’s competition.
“I’m excited, it’s a fun day. We got a lot of entries today,” said Andrew Uzl, senior crew captain at St. Ignatius High School. He competed in the youth paid, youth men’s eight and youth men’s four events.
“It’s something you never see on the Cuyahoga,” Uzl continued. “ Rowing is a smaller world than most sports.” He will compete at the Head of the Chales in Boston later in October.
The Cuyahoga mimics the Charles River in Boston according to Tolles. “Crews can come here and practice those complex turns that they’re going to experience on the Charles.”
“Like Elliot Bridge [in Boston], that’s our Collision Bend turn,” Tolles explained that the sharp turns tests rowers experience while navigating their way through a course.
With high school and college athletes populating the tents and crews, masters and dream boat make up adults and seventy years old and up.
Elana Baldwin who has been rowing for over 20 years and has been a part of the Western Reserve Rowing Association for nine years in the masters division, [which is open to people 27 and up] talked about the complexities of balancing adulthood and athletics.
“It’s interesting [being an adult] trying to have an adult life and compete in any sport,” Baldwin said. “There’s a wide variety of how competitive and committed you need to be.”
The world of rowing had its eyes on Cleveland for one weekend. What they saw was an amazing display of the of 2,000 local and national competing rowers, and a showcase of Cleveland’s versatility when it comes to sporting events.
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