On a steamy hot Saturday, ORC rowers made the most of a early morning trip to the inaugural Sarasota 5000 Head Race held on the intercoastal waterway near Osprey, Florida.
Opening up the morning on a practically straight 4500 meter course, ORC men and women each took gold in their respective 8+ events. The women (Walter, Broome, L. Fore, Silvia, Schweitzer, Davis, Schwartzberg, Sproul, Wisenfield) posted a time of 18:23.8 winning their event even though they had to throttle back while rowing through a no-passing zone on the course. The men (Sims, Ingram, Dojcsak, Hoppenfeld, P. Fore, Kerrebrock, Lukasik, Hatter, Smith) easily won their event over a crew from Cape Coral Rowing Club with an unofficial time of 16:20; unofficial because the regatta timer malfunctioned.
Next up, Coach Riekki blew out the competition in the W1X, winning the event in 22:45.7. The M4+ ( Quillen, Field, Kuehler, Enright, A. Wetteland) kept the gold rush going by winning in a time of 19:33.4, and the W4+ (Walter, Radtke, K.Wetteland, Wisenfeld, Brink) earned silver medals with a time of 21:34.4.
In the Mixed 2X, Harry and Anne Robinson put together a winning row with a time of 21:15.4.
In the last race of the day, two ORC crews earned their hardware in the Mixed 8+ event. Winning in a time of 17:13.7 was ORC A (Walter, L. Fore, Schweitzer, Silvia, Sproul, Ingram, P. Fore, Dojcsak, Hoppenfeld). ORC B (Quillen, Hatter, A.Wetteland, Enright, Broome, Schwartzberg, Kuehler, Radtke, Riekki) scored a bronze medal with a time of 18:39.8 with Sarasota sandwiched in the middle with the silver.
At the conclusion of the regatta, Sarasota Masters Rowing Club hosted a nice lunch for all regatta participants at the Casey Key Fish House outdoor cabana overlooking the waterway.
