Megunticook Rowing excels at Cow Island Classic Regatta

Thu, 09/23/2021 - 3:30pm

BRUNSWICK — After more than a year without an official regatta, Megunticook Rowing finally took to the racecourse again Sept. 18. On a picture-perfect day, 66 hulls from 19 clubs, hailing from as far away as Florida, raced the 5K up and back course on the Androscoggin River in Brunswick. 

The Megunticook Rowing youth team faced stiff competition from Maine Coast Rowing Association of Brunswick and Wayneflete Crew from Portland.

The Megunticook Rowing Junior team is coached by head coach Tris Coburn and assistants Jeff Foltz, Abby Chamberlin and Joline Blais.

The first boats to race were the girls doubles (2X). Two Megunticook boats, one rowed by Iselin Bratz and Maggie Gill, the other rowed by Lydia Myers and Leah Bloomquist faced two fast boats from Maine Coast Rowing (MCRA).

Bratz and Gill pulled a strong race and finished second. Myers and Bloomquist, having rowed together for only a few practices, came in fourth behind the second MCRA boat. Both boats rowed beautifully.

Next up were the two boys Junior 4+s. The “A" boat, comprised of Dom Piconi, Devin Guptill, Cabot Adams, Noah Thackeray and coxswain, Connor Howland, won first place, passing the Waynflete “A” boat, beating them by a minute and 30 seconds.

The “B” boat, comprised of Carlton Richmond, Oliver Castle, Oliver Haynes, Tanner Carson, and Aaron Dowd (coxswain), rowed a strong race missing 4th place by just nine seconds. Two of this boat’s rowers had been rowing for less than two weeks.

Two of Megunticook Rowing’s Masters rowers, Don Seales and Meg Webb, rowed the Masters Mixed 2X event (doubles), placing second, nearly two minutes ahead of the third place finishers.

The Junior Women's 4+s was the last even of the day. The Megunticook Rowing A boat, comprised of Veronica Waters, Laura Riordan, Adella Brainerd, Flora Gurdon, and Sofia Howell (coxswain), faced stiff competition from Waynflete and MCRA.

They pulled a great race and came in third, missing second place by 36 seconds over the three-mile course. The B boat, comprised of Maggie Gill, Greer LaFiura, Ava Tobias, Rachel Aldridge-Peacock, and Anna Piconi (coxswain), rowed beautifully and came in fourth.

Next month, Megunticook Rowing heads Oct. 3 to Lowell, Massachusetts for the Textile River Regatta and will be facing crews from all over New England. There are 300 entries in all categories in this event.