Marin Rowing Association

History

For the first eight years of its existence, the program was composed of high school boys from Redwood High School and what the club called the "cardiac 8+". The cardiac 8+ was a small group of men who had previously rowed in college and continued to row on Sunday mornings. That group of men, including Olympian Dick Draeger, held the facility and equipment together.

In 1977, U.C. Berkeley rower Jana Barto began a high school program for women from Redwood High School, and in 1982 Olympian Lou Lindsey joined Coach Cumming to run the men's team, taking over in 1984 after the death of Coach Cumming.

Today both the boys and girls teams, recruiting throughout Marin, row under the name of the Marin Rowing Association.

Numerous Marin Juniors have raced on Junior National Teams throughout the years, and some have gone on to represent the United States at the World Rowing Championships and the Olympics. Scott Munn, Fred Honebein, Tim Evans, Tim Ryan and Jerome Ryan, Mike Altman, Brian Ebke and Nito Simonsen are all Marin Rowing Association alumni.

Marin Rowing Association Olympians

The club is currently managed by Sandy Armstrong, who was honored with the USRowing Ernestine Bayer Award at the 2013 USRowing Annual Convention.

Junior Team

The Marin Rowing Association offers a competitive high school rowing program for boys and girls from schools including Redwood High School, Tamalpais High School, Sir Francis Drake High School, Marin Catholic High School, Marin Academy, San Francisco University High School, San Domenico High School, The Branson School, Convent of the Sacred Heart High School, and more.

The Marin Juniors are divided into four teams: Varsity Boys (Coach: Andrew Lennox), Varsity Girls (Coach: Sandy Armstrong), Novice Boys (Coach: Tim Humphrey) and Novice Girls (Coach: Ivan Ostojic). The Marin Juniors have enjoyed success at various prestigious regattas.

Head of the Charles

2010 At the 46th Head of the Charles Regatta in 2010, the Marin Varsity boys eight made history by racing from the 69th starting position to win their event, posting a course record (14:50.246) in the process. The 2010 boat was coached by Graham Willoughby. The Varsity girls eight, coached by Sandy Armstrong, came in second, just four seconds behind first place.

2011 At the 47th Head of the Charles Regatta in 2011, the Marin boys again placed first. The Marin Varsity girls, on the other hand, finished in second place for the second year in a row.

2012 At the 48th Head of the Charles Regatta in 2012, the Marin boys repeated their victory for the third year in a row, this time with a decisive lead of more than 33 seconds to the second finisher; coached by Dustin Kraus. The Marin girls finished in 5th place.

2013 At the 49th Head of the Charles Regatta in 2013, the Marin boys extended their record victory streak to four consecutive wins. The first place Men's Youth 8+ was coached by Dustin Kraus.

The Marin Varsity girls, coached by Sandy Armstrong, finished in 3rd in the Youth 8+ event, less than a second behind the second place finisher.

2014 At the 50th Head of the Charles, the Marin boys placed 2nd by a margin of 1.5 seconds ending their four year streak. The girls walked away with a 5th place finish.

2015 At the 51st Head of the Charles, The boys from Marin, coached by Dustin Kraus came in first place over bay area rival Oakland Strokes by a dominating 11 seconds while the Marin girls came home with a second place finish (coached by Sandy Armstrong).

San Diego Crew Classic

The Marin Rowing Association has won a variety of events at the San Diego Crew Classic over the years. In 2012 and 2014 however, the Marin Rowing Varsity Boys achieved a sweep of all three junior events, becoming the first team to ever do so as well as the first team to ever repeat the achievement.

USRowing Youth National Championships

The Marin Rowing Association has won national championships on numerous occasions. Previously, the Marin Juniors had won several gold medals in the Youth National Championship at Harsha Lake near Cincinnati, Ohio; amongst them, the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ in 2004, the Men's Youth Double Sculls in 2007 and the Women's Youth 8+ in 2008 and 2009.

In more recent years, the Marin Juniors have consistently been top finishers nationally in various boats. In 2009, the Marin Rowing Junior Men's Youth 8+ placed 5th at Nationals along with the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ that placed 2nd by .28 seconds. In 2010, both the Heavyweight and Lightweight Men's eights came in second at Youth Nationals.

2011 was a unique year for Marin Rowing's youth team, which became the first team to sweep the USRowing Youth National Championship with victories in the Men's & Women's Youth 8+ as well as the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ (composed of 6 novice) at the Oak Ridge, TN venue.

At the 2012 Youth National Championship, the Marin Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ and Youth 8+ won gold in both events for the second year in a row, while the Women's Youth 8+ finished with a silver medal.

At the 2013 Youth National Championship in Oak Ridge, TN, the men and women's squads from Marin came away with four medals out of the five boats sent. The Women's Youth 8+ won decisively; crossing the finish line with open-water over the second place finisher. The Men's Youth 8+ took third place, while the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ came home with a second place finish. The Men's Youth 4+ earned a bronze medal and the Men's Youth Lightweight 4+ finished in fourth.

The 2014 Youth Nationals in Sacramento, CA, was another successful year for the Marin Rowing Association's Junior team. The Men's Youth 8+ (T. Fant C, J. Goldman S, B. Wertz 7, B. Patterson 6, S. McKenzie 5, A. Joyce 4, C. Bearly-Malinowski 3, C. Reilly 2, J. Killeen B), after overcoming several injuries right before the regatta, finished in 5th place, while the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ (C. Wray C, M. Levinson S, R. Clyde 7, R. Overfield 6, C. Giannini 5, G. Findlay 4, J. Ash 3, B. Mollison 2, D. McCrea B) won gold. The Women's Youth 8+ finished in 7th place, while the Women's Youth 2- (Julia Burgess and Camille Kisseberth) won by open water.

At the 2015 You National Championship in Sarasota, FL, the men's and women's teams sent five boats. The Men's Youth 8+ finished 4th, the Women's Youth 8+ finished 10th, the Women's Youth 4+ finished 7th, the Women's Youth Lightweight 4+ finished 5th, while the Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ finished 3rd, making it 7 consecutive years the MRA Men's Youth Lightweight 8+ has finished on the podium in the top 3.

Marin Rowing Association USRowing Youth National Championship Results

Junior National Team Athletes

Junior National Team Athletes

Indoor Rowing World Records

In 2013, at the annual Marin Rowing Erg-A-Thon, the Marin Junior boys and girls teams set two Concept2 ergometer world records. The boys completed 466,156 meters in 24 hours to set the Male 19 and Under Hwt world record with 77 rowers. The girls rowed 392,521 meters in 24 hours to set the Female 19 and Under Hwt world record with 76 rowers. The Erg-A-Thon took place from February 2 to February 3, 2013 at Bon Air Shopping Center in Greenbrae, California.

In 2014, the Marin Juniors (both boys and girls) worked together to set another world record at the annual Erg-A-Thon. Both the boys and the girls completed 445,958 meters in 24 hours to set the Mixed 19 and Under Hwt world record. 153 rowers (78 boys and 75 girls) contributed to setting this record. The 2014 Erg-A-Thon was again held at Bon Air Shopping Center in Greenbrae, California from February 1 to February 2, 2014.

In 2015, a Marin junior Ethan Seder pulled 19:31.0 for the 6k erg piece. Ethan broke the Concept 2 Indoor Rowing World Record for the 15-16 age category.

Masters Team

In 1984, Jana Barto and Joan Corbett started a masters rowing program for adult women. Originally the rowers were parents of the junior men and women, but today that original program has split into beginning, intermediate and advanced levels for men and women, with the competitive/advanced level winning numerous gold medals at State Championship races, the Masters Nationals and the FISA World Regatta.

At the 2013 Head of the Charles Regatta, the Marin Masters came home with six wins. The Men's Senior Master 8+ boat (50 and over) finished first and set a new course record of 15:29.87. For the third year in a row, the Women's Senior Master 8+ boat (50 and over) finished in first place and also set a new course record of 17:35.75. In the Senior Veteran Single (70 and over), Landon Carter earned a gold medal. In the 4+s, the Men's Master 4+ (40 and over) and the Women's Senior Master 4+ (50 and over) both won with the women's four earning another course record. The Men's Veteran 4+ (70 and over) won gold.

2013 was the first year the Marin Rowing Association won the Head of the Charles Team Points Trophy, an honor usually only earned by accomplished collegiate rowing teams.

In 2014 Marin came home with one first place finish in the Men's Senior Master 50+ Eight.

At the 2015 San Diego Crew Classic, Marin took first and third in the Men's Club Eight, a feat never completed before at the crew classic.

At the 2015 Henley Master's regatta, Marin came home with wins in the Men's E4+ and F4+.