a
m*
emerging
the dark
Crew coach Mike Holcomb in the early morning hours at Dexter Lake. The crew team works out at 5:15 every morning.
At 5 a m., most people are asleep
Nobody studies at 5 am; nobody parties at 5 am,
you can't even get an Egg McMuffin at 5 a m. But if you
want to be on the crew team at Oregon, you better be up
at that insane hour.
“We’re working out by 5:15 a m., and we're on the
water by 6:15," says Mike Holcomb, one of two coaches
of Oregon crew, “and then we have our second workout
in the afternoon ”
Crew at Oregon is only a club sport, but it is a
demanding sport The rowers compete in the Pac-10
Conference, facing such powers as Washington and
California Thus, the reason for two-a-day workouts
Sounds crazy, huh? Well, it is, at least according to
one team member. "Oh yeah, crew is crazy,” admits
Brenda Thornton, a coxswain for the team who also
serves as the club president
"I remember my freshman year, I had a neighbor
who rowed I told her she was crazy, that crew was a
horrible and masochistic sport, and how could she get
up at 5 am.,' says Thornton, “but after I started, I fell in
love with crew I can't adequately describe what it feels
like to be on the water and watch the sun come up
Another thing that can't be adequately described is
how far Oregon's crew team has come under club
supervision. Crew started at Oregon in the mid 1960's
as a club sport, and it has stayed that way ever since
The team, operating under a meager budget of $7,900 a
year, must lease most of its equipment from Conn
Findlay, an ex-rower who owns a fleet of boats, or shells
as they are more commonly called, in San Francisco
"The program has never been really big,” says
Holcomb But last year, the Ducks took on the Goliaths
of the Pac-10 — and won
The men's heavyweight four (a four-man boat of
rowers over 160 lbs.) defeated Washington in regional
competition, and then bested the Huskies, Cal and
UCLA to win the Pac-10 championships They also
finished fourth at the prestigious National Sports Fes
tival In addition, the women's heavyweight four placed
second in the Pac-10
Thornton, who was the coxswain for the men's
boat, says, "We were ecstatic. We were all crying in the
boat — it was amazing ”
Still, Oregon is not ready to topple Washington’s
Northwest dominance in crew "They're a set pro
gram," says Holcomb. "They've been around for a long
time — 70, 80 years maybe.” Adds Thornton, "Wash
ington actually has a list of donors waiting to give
money to the team Here, we work our tails off "
In heavyweight eight competition (the glamour part
of crew), as well as lightweight, freshman and novice
competition, the Ducks must take a back seat to the
Washingtons, the Cals and the UCLAs As Matty Elliot,
who coaches the women’s crew events, says, "We re
probably not taken seriously yet We re starting to get a
toehold, but we have a long way to go "
But Thornton, the walking advertisement for
Oregon crew, disagrees "We re not a screw-around
crew team anymore Washington was wild-eyed with
surprise at what we did And now their coach (Dick
Erickson) has been really supportive He's called a
couple of times to ask us if there's anything he can do
What the team needs most of all, of course, is
<l
money. Last year the team staged a rowathon at Dexter
Lake, the crew training site, in which they rowed 100
miles and received $3,000 from donors. The reward was
a new four-man boat and some carbon-fibered oars,
which helped the rowers tremendously at regionals and
the Pac-10 championships.
"When you lease equipment, you're not allowed to
bring it to regionals or Pac-10's," says Holcomb, "so
you have to borrow a boat, and it's harder to compete
For this year’s rowathon, which will be held Sunday
at Dexter Lake, the crew team plans to row 150 miles
around the lake, with each team member taking two
hour shifts The team's goal is to raise $7,000-9,000,
which will be enough to buy an eight-man boat and
more oars "We need to start building a program, and
that means new boats and oars," says Thornton
The team must cope with several disadvantages,
though The small budget, the half-hour rides to Dexter
and the inability of the program to offer scholarships
make it difficult to build a sustained program
But energy and spirit can overcome a lot of obsta
cles This year the crew team has 67 members, more
than ever before, and the team's attitude is to be the
best they can "I'm so proud of what we've accom
plished," says Thornton. "Crew has such incredible
demands — time demands, energy demands, and
money demands The motivation has to come from
inside yourself You have to really want it."
And this team does — enough to be up at 5 a m
Story by Doug Levy
Photo by Bob Baker
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