Saturday November 4, 2,000 was one of biggest days, if not THE BIGGEST DAY in the eleven year history of the McCALLIE CREW. In our eleventh try in the Men’s Youth 8+ event the McCALLIE’S Varsity 8 won the Head of the Chattahoochie, the Hooch, for the first time. The Hooch is the largest regatta in the South, and all the major youth (high school age) teams in the region attend. It is generally seem as a good indicator of who is going to go fast in the spring season.
McCallie’s Varsity A
started the race just after last year’s champion, Leon Crew and just ahead of the always strong boat from Sarasota. Going out at a higher than usual stroke rate they quickly overtook Leon and openned a sizeable lead on Sarasota. A junior program from Berlin, Germany was the wild card in the race. They were expected to be fast, but their starting position was back in the field, out of sight. All McCALLIE’s boat could do was to go fast. The Crew knew when they crossed the finish line that they had rowed their best race of the season, but they had to wait for the results to be posted which didn’t happen until they were in the bus on the way home.When we called them and gave them the news, McCALLE A 1st, McCALLIE B 4th the guys on the bus went wild. The A Boat beat the Germans by 2.5 seconds, and the B Boat was only 1.6 seconds out of third place.
Varsity 8A Mark Richmond |
Varsity 8B Adam Kent |
There is a certain symmetry to this great VICTORY. Four years ago four of the guys in this year’s A Boat rowing in the novice A boat won McCALLIE’s first ever gold at the Hooch. They are David Gardner, Wayne McLemore, Anders Swanson, and Ashby Graham.
In the other races at Hooch 2,000 McCALLIE’s Novice A placed 3rd, Novice B 9th, Varsity 4+ 9th, and Novice 4+ 13th.
All in all, a great regatta.