Several rowers from GDRA traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to compete in the Percy Priest Sprints regatta on Saturday, April 1. Although we couldn’t race some of our small boats because of high winds, we all had multiple races even with the compressed schedule. The organizers were very helpful and flexible, adding mixed double and mixed quad events at our request, which ended up being fully subscribed and gave us some good competition.

Two GDRA boats placed in the Mixed Masters 2x race, with Deborah Taylor and Brian Elwell winning the silver medal, and Meg Evans and Brian White taking bronze. Taking the silver medal in the Women’s Masters 4x were Deborah Taylor, Meg Evans, Connie Howe, and Kathy Kremer (from Great Miami Rowing Center). This was Connie Howe’s first sprint race in very challenging conditions; bravely done!

Some of us also participated in the Sarasota Invitational at Nathan Benderson Park in Florida on February 26. This regatta is particularly fun for lightweight rowers because it features a Mixed Masters Lightweight 2x event, which most regattas do not have. Meg Evans and Brian White won gold in that event. Brian White took bronze in the Men’s Lightweight 1x, and a mixed quad made up of Meg Evans, Brian White, Kathy Kremer, and Brian Elwell also had a third-place finish.