Nyack's Rowers to Defend National Title

The River Rowing Association (RAA), based in Nyack, has another task at hand—and it's one that the group's president welcomes.

"We're definitely ready, we're excited, we'd be disappointed if we lose," said president and South Nyack resident Ivan Rudolph-Shabinsky. "We're faster than we were last year."

Ready for what? Rudolph-Shabinsky, who also competes for the eight-year-old RAA, is referencing this weekend's USRowing Masters National Championships, contested Thursday through Sunday on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J.

Last year, the RAA captured the Club Quad title. Now, the defending national champs have three of their four rowers back, with South Nyack's Joe Devoe new to the shell. And if Devoe, who is replacing the injured Erik Molitor, has any trepidation, it's not readily apparent.

"I think I ought to be able to pull it off; I hope so," he said. Devoe is a former Fairfield University rugby player who'll be joined in the shell by Nyack's Peter Klose and Tom Chyla along with Rudolph-Shabinsky.

"We've been training hard, although we don't race that often," he added. "But we all seem to be in better shape than last year. You just don't know what the other clubs are doing. I was the odd guy out last year—I'm looking forward to the race."

Devoe, a commercial banker who won bronze last year with his son Parker in the father/son doubles, was a river rat in his hometown of Orono, Maine and played football and hockey in high school. He was drawn to sculling about five years ago by his friend Rudolph-Shabinsky, and took to it like a duck takes to water.

"I got into a boat the first day just to see what's it's like," he said. "The second [day] we were actually in a race. I was the only novice in the boat and we won that race because we have a lot of good people who train hard."

The RRA participants train in the early morning at Nyack Marina.

"It's a real intense workout and we have a good group of people that makes it easier to get up at 5 a.m.," Devoe explained. "On the weekend we get to sleep in to 6:30 a.m. But that's the most likely time to get flat surface water and less power [boat] traffic."

Championships, however, are not the association's calling card. The motto "Pull with Purpose" indeed has a purpose, to wit: advance the well-being of the residents of Nyack, Rockland County and surrounding areas through the sport of rowing.

Rudolph-Shabinsky hopes to debunk the misconception that rowing is only for the elite, noting that not everyone who rows is an Ivy Leaguer. 

"We very consciously avoided making it a club, and make it open to everyone," he said, adding that approximately 80 kids from seventh through twelfth grades take part in disciplines over three seasons, and that the association also offers training at the Nyack YMCA during the winter season.

"But [the training camp is] mostly the adults who try to stay in shape," Rudolph-Shabinsky noted.

The RAA's community-minded goal is to attract anyone to the sport.

"That's the whole point of it," Rudolph-Shabinsky said. "We offer an adaptive clinic for persons with disabilities, an outreach program for low income—we want to make it available to everyone."

The association's most active discipline is the quad, as opposed to sweep rowing popularized at the collegiate level. And this, too, has a purpose.

"Sculling is more balanced because you pull with both arms, and we want as many as possible to row in college," Rudolph-Shabinsky said. "If you do one [discipline] too long, you can burn out. So when they get to college and switch to sweep rowing, they're more likely to get excited again."

The national event this weekend marks the end of the competitive summer season for the RAA's 20-30 active adults. The fall program is scheduled to start Aug. 31 with the first day of training for kids.

Anyone interested in the various RAA programs can visit the association's website.