Sports
Soon-to-be-Local Rowing Team Paddles Against Midwest's Best
The North Side was represented at a rowing event over the weekend in which a suburban beach was packed with boats, tents, athletes and their families. Check out our video clip for a glimpse of what participants said was "stiff competition".
A local rowing team packed up its oars, boats and tents to head north over the weekend and compete in a championship alongside several of the Midwest's best.
The Crystal Lake Rowing Club hosted Saturday's Greater Chicago Junior Rowing Championships, as it has for the past several years. The annual regatta leads up to the Midwest Junior Rowing Championships and Midwest Scholastic Championships.
Results were not yet available on Monday afternoon, but should be posted soon on the Greater Chicago Jr. Rowing Championship web page, coordinators said. The Lincoln Park Junior team faced off against New Trier High School, Loyola Academy, Chicago Training Center, Ignatius Chicago Crew and the North Suburban Crew, according to the GCJRC schedule.
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The local team recently made headlines for its plan to the Clark Street Boathouse, a more spacious and functional facility than its current Lincoln Park site.
READ: Clark Park Boathouse Rowers: 'Big Fish in Small Pond'
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Comprised of more than 300 rowers, the LPJ Chicago Rowing team is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 1998 with a grant from the U.S. Olympic Committee. That grant was aimed at making rowing accessible and available to students throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.
Saturday's out-of-state groups included Camp Randall Rowing Club from Madison, Wis.; Culver Academy from Culver, Ind.; Milwaukee Rowing Club, Wis.; and Rochester Rowing Club from Rochester, Minn.
Rowers competed in 18 separate events including junior varsity, varsity, men's, women's, novice and lightweight.
The athletes and their families set up "camp" at Main Beach, 300 Lake Shore Drive in Crystal Lake, where teams pitched tents, impressive picnic buffets, and chairs for their spectators, many of whom were equipped with binoculars.
According to many athletes at the event, the competition was stiff. But the event was luckily greeted with sunny skies, warm weather and relatively calm waters for the races.
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