Mobjack Rowing Association athletes traveled to the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last weekend to participate in the Philadelphia Youth Regatta. This year’s regatta was attended by 51 teams with 1,260 athletes competing in all. Even though MRA rowers have had very little time on race courses over the past 2 years due to COVID mandates, they still had a strong showing that bodes well for the future of the team.
The first race of the day for MRA was the Boy’s Cadet U19 Quad race. Rowers Jaxon McDonald, Matthew Morgan, Ben Stroud and Cole Wheeler came in 5th in their flight with a time of 5:24.98. Later in the day the U19 Quad broke up into pairs to compete in two separate doubles races. Stroud and Morgan teamed up to compete in the Boys Colt U17 Double and placed 3rd in their flight with a time of 5:55.97. Wheeler and McDonald teamed up for the Boy’s Cadet U19 Double and placed 4th in their flight with a time of 6:06.41.
On the women’s side rowers Lillian Copeland, Lily Baucom, Macy Johnson, and Mandy Moran teamed up to compete in the Girls Cadet U19 Quad. The crew came in second with a time of 5:49.31 behind City Island Rowing. Later in the day the girls split up their quad boating to compete in doubles races. The first race found rowers Copeland and Savannah Hartlove in the Girls Cadet U19 Double finishing 2nd behind Philadelphia City Rowing with a time of 6:52.1. Next up were Baucom and Moran competing in the next flight of the Girls Cadet U19 Double finishing with a time of 6:29.19. While the boating of Baucom and Moran were 5th in their flight, their time gave them a 9th place finish overall out of the 27 boats entered. The final race of the day for the girls was the Girls Colt U17 Double duo of Macy Johnson and Scarlet Johnson. Not only do the girls compete on the team together, but they are also cousins. Johnson and Johnson had a solid race placing first in their flight with a time of 6:22.61 - The fastest time in their event out of the 21 boats entered.
Head Coach Jon Lothian and Assistant Coach Christina Tomcany traveled with the athletes to this year’s race. Tomcany remarked “This race was a great starting point for training for the rest of the year. We had some great finishes overall and hopefully a new year of training will give MRA athletes the opportunity to excel even greater over the coming seasons.”
Mobjack Rowers will be taking a short break from training during the month of August to clean and repair boats until the Fall Head Racing Season starts in September. During the week of August of 23rd MRA will be running their final Learn to Row Camp of the summer to prepare for the fall season. Attending camp and joining MRA is open to rising seventh grade through high school students who are public, private, or home schooled and residents of Mathews, Gloucester, and surrounding counties. If your interested you can find more information and sign up at www.mobjackrowing.org