The club rowing team kicked off its fall season last Sunday at the Textile River Regatta in Lowell, Mass. with the women’s and men’s crews claiming gold and silver medals, respectively.
Sunday was the first time that the team had registered independent varsity and novice eights. This generated some uncertainty at the regatta, in addition to the team’s usual start of the season jitters.    
Coach Gil Birney said he was ultimately impressed by the team’s performance. 
“You never know going into the first race how fast you are; you have an idea, but you’re never sure,” he said.
The varsity women’s fours had a dominant time trial performance that was particularly impressive, said Birney.  
“They won by 29 seconds, a phenomenal gap against some good competition. They really amazed me,” he said.
“The men I expected to go pretty fast... but we faced some high-powered rowing clubs,” Birney continued.
The varsity men’s four finished well over a minute ahead of the next college crew.
 The rest of the team placed competitively. The men’s and women’s varsity eights finished 11th and 12th respectively. 
The novice teams also fared well. The two novice women’s fours finished third and fifth, and the novice women’s eight finished fourth. The novice men’s fours won a silver medal while the novice men’s eight placed fourth. 
“We have a very young team,” said captain Tucker Colvin ’13, the only senior on his varsity four. “We had a lot of first years come out last year; most of the team picked up rowing in college, but they’re passionate about the sport, and it manifests itself in our results.”
Bowdoin’s sculler, Scotty Mitchell ’15, also took the bronze in the men’s club single. 
At the crew’s next regatta  the team will face rival schools like Amherst, Conn. College, and the University of Vermont, all of whom have yet to race this year. The team will travel to Worcester, Mass. on October 13 for the college-only Quinsigamond Snake Regatta. 
The Polar Bears will  end the year at the Head of the Charles Regatta, which draws high schools, colleges, clubs, and international teams alike.
“We are looking to see how we compete against other teams,” coxswain and captain Bonnie Cao ’13 said. “It’s our first real competition.”