The Launch
Two Passions on a Single: Charlie, the Rowing Chestnut
I have some rather niche passions. The first one might not seem so niche to you, since you are currently reading “The Launch” a rowing blog made by a rowing gear company, but for many, it seems quite odd to have a wake up before 5 am to go sit on a tippy boat, narrower than your butt, to move backwards on a river…My second passion is the Castanea dentata tree (I told you it was rather niche…), the American Chestnut tree!
The Boys in the Boat Movie
The Boys in the Boat is a sports drama based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction book written by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world. The movie will open in theaters on December 25.
4 Essentials For Rowers
JL Racing sent me over a nice box of gear this year to try and give honest feedback on. I had previously had JL gear through their provision of the national team gear in Ireland in 2018 and also when I joined Team JL 2018 in my last year of university rowing. I was excited as I was still to this day wearing their JL Racing t-shirts day to day as I loved the quality and how well they washed and could be used over and over. They also sat on my shoulders and arms really nicely, which was a bonus for the ego. Looking good in clothes can never be a bad thing. I have compiled my must-haves for a rowing session and why.
Team Spotlight: Sammamish Rowing Association
Usually a rowing club starts with some rowers and a coach, then some boats and oars, and eventually a boathouse. But with SRA, the boathouse came first. In 1994, Hod Fowler, a former collegiate rower, learned of an old boathouse in Marymoor Park. The boathouse was originally built by the Overlake School on the site of a former sewage-treatment plant. Overlake later abandoned the building, and Fowler discovered it was weeks away from being demolished as part of a toxic-site cleanup project in Marymoor Park.
Erg Warmup With Philip Doyle
Warming up before a workout is crucial to get yourself ready to perform at your best, and avoid injury. Warming up increases your heart rate and therefore your blood flow. This enables more oxygen to reach your muscles. A warmup also activates and primes the connections between your nerve and muscles, which improves the efficiency of movement. So, how do you get ready for an erg workout or rowing on the water? Follow along with Philip Doyle, as he takes us through his warmup on the erg!
Mobility Session With Philip Doyle
Everyone can use more mobility and stretching in their routines. Stretching has many benefits, such as it improves your performance, decreases risk of injury, increases mobility and full range of motion, and more. Sometimes it is difficult to dedicate the proper time to stretching before and after workouts, but we've made it easy with a pre-workout routine from Philip Doyle that you can follow along with before your next row!
Didn't compete in varsity? It's not too late for you, Masters!
This blog post is dedicated to people who discovered rowing later in life at the masters level, and who haven't raced in school or college. Many masters are rowing in clubs for leisure/exercise more than to compete and it's sometimes hard to train for competitions when the rest of the team is not in this mindset. This blog post features quotes from two JL ambassadors sharing their advice with us
Athlete Spotlight: Nikki Hallahan
Meet Nikki Hallahan, a freshman on the rowing team at Purdue University. Nikki started rowing in high school, and hasn't looked back! Her favorite pre-practice snack is a protein shake she makes in her dorm room with protein powder, almond milk, vitamins/supplements, and yogurt. Her favorite seat is bow seat in a 4x, and she is also bisweptual when rowing sweep! Read about how special rowing is to her, what her goals are for the season, and what she recommends to high schoolers considering rowing in college.
Finding Balance by Philip Doyle
Let me introduce myself, my name is Philip Doyle, a 30-year-old doctor, and rower. For the past five years I’ve been qualified in the NHS and have been on the Irish National Squad for the same amount of time. I have been dipping in and out of both rowing and medicine, but never truly leaving one behind. I want to share a bit of how 2018/19 went for me and how this period was, in retrospect, one of the most difficult times for me that required balance and skills I was unaware I was utilising at the time.
