January 22, 1999

The athletes begin training 7 months in advance of race season, practicing prior to sunrise 6 days a week. Throw in five afternoon workouts a week, plus a full load of classes and you've got the training table of an SDSU rower.

For some people rowing may be as new to them as it is to SDSU Athletics. So here it is, Rowing 101. As an introduction the primary event to concern yourself with is the prestigious eight (you can concern yourself with the four, quad, and single events later). The eight is a boat (or in Rowerspeak "shell") that holds eight people plus one coxswain. A coxWHAT? A coxswain... a smaller, lighter person who drives the boat and keeps the crew focused and pulling hard through the entire race. Each boat is about 65 feet long, weighs about 180 lbs, and has eight 12 foot long oars. Crew has been deemed as the ultimate team sport, both on and off the water. Even carrying the boats takes precise teamwork, not to mention rowing them. The athletes begin training 7 months in advance of race season, practicing prior to sunrise 6 days a week. Throw in five afternoon workouts a week, plus a full load of classes and you've got the training table of an SDSU rower. Why do they do it? According to them, they LOVE it.

"It becomes a part of you.", says SDSU Crew member Gina Tarantino. "I love working out and knowing that most people are still asleep in their warm beds missing this beautiful sunrise. We own this time of day. Were sweating while everyone else is sleeping. There's something magical about that."

If you think that nobody could handle such a demanding schedule, guess again. The team currently has over 50 rowers, making it second in size on campus only to the football team. And while rowing is something of an underground sport here on the west coast, on the east coast it's a whole different story. Last weekend, Boston, Mass. hosted the Head of the Charles Regatta. SDSU Crew coach Amy Fuller, who is also a member of the national team and a two time Olympic rower, raced in the event. She says the race is the biggest athletic event she's ever seen.

"It's like rowing in a stadium. 250,000 screaming spectators pack the banks of the Charles River over the three mile course. It's quite a festival."

The Crew hopes to compete in the event next year, however, the event is so popular that to enter it you have to be select by lottery. But for now they have more immediate challenges in mind, such as earning a bid to the NCAA Colligiate National Championships.