Simsbury Crew Opens Spring Season racing at the Tabor Cup

The Simsbury High School crew team launched the Spring Season at the Tabor Cup held April 16th at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was the first real spring regatta since the 2019 season.

The Tabor Cup is an annual competition between Tabor Academy and Simsbury. While other crews also row against the Simsbury and Tabor boats, including Stonington, East Lyme, Boston Latin, Shrewsbury (MA), and St. John's (MA), the competition for the Cup remains between Simsbury and Tabor, who formalized the contest in 1988. Tabor Academy won the cup this race.

It was a competitive day of racing on a windy 1,500-meter course. All the teams struggled with the floating start on the choppy lake. Most boats had various other issues as well but the conditions did not stop these resilient teams from competing. Simsbury's girls first varsity boat finished with a time of 7:16.70. Their boat, named the Relentless, echoed the girl’s determination.Bottom of Form

The second varsity race suffered a false start when crosswinds blew boats into each other at the first start attempt. Once the race began - the Simsbury V2, rowing The Ironhorse, came in 3rd with a time of 5:53.8. The Simsbury boy’s first varsity, racing in The Grit, took an impressive first place against five other teams with a finish time of 5:29.0.

Even the rough conditions could not damper the enthusiasm of the rowers and spectators for the first spring race. Head Boy’s Coach Adam Askham stated, “I could not be prouder of the boys in the 1V. They executed the race well in challenging conditions. The boys committed to the offseason training plan and now they are seeing that their hard work is paying off. I am excited to see the team as a whole improve throughout the season as we train for our championship season at CPSRA and NEIRA at the end of May.”

The Simsbury/Tabor Invitational marks the start of the racing season for Simsbury Crew, who return to Lake Quinsigamond on April 23rd for the Exeter Invitational. For more information about the Simsbury Crew program, including this season's race schedule, visit www.simsburycrew.org.