Rowing Is Pretty Cool

Today my team and I competed in the first day of a regatta called the Long Beach Junior Invitational Regatta.  Tomorrow is the second and final day.  

Since rowing is already constantly on my mind for the time being (just kidding it's almost always somewhere in my thoughts) I thought I would share some interesting facts about rowing itself.  

1. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was a rower.
2. From 1920 until 1956, the USA won the gold medal in the men’s eight at every Olympic Games.
3. There are two different types of rowing: sculling and sweep.  In sculling, the rower has two oars while in sweep, the rower only has one.  There are three different sculling events: the single, the double, and the quad.  There are also three sweep events: the pair, the four, and the eight.
4.  Although it seems like only the arms and back are used, the legs actually do most of the work.  The rower's legs provide power to the oars once they enter the water, the arms and back just finish off the stroke.
5. Most collegiate, club, and international races are 2000 meters.  However, in most high school races the course can vary from 1100-2000 meters.


Those are just some quick facts that barely scratch the surface of this awesome sport but I hope you found them somewhat interesting or enlightening.  If you ever get a chance to pick up some oars and go for a row, I strongly recommend it. 

Thanks for reading! :)