Members of Hamilton College's men's and women's crew programs will be checking in throughout the week with dispatches from their spring trip to Florida. Friday's update comes from Oliver Magnusson '17.
We’re building up to our race on Saturday. Today we faced Colgate University for a series of pieces out on the bay and we all got a bit of a sense of where we stand. I rowed in the novice boat and as a true novice, it was great to finally race another crew, albeit one from a Division I program. While our boat was expected to lose every piece, I’m proud to say that we held our own and could even keep pace with our own varsity crew for a few strokes.
Being down here has given me an understanding of the improvement that the novices have made since the beginning of September when we first set our feet into a boat. Each day, the boat sways from side to side a bit less, we’re continuously able to move the shell faster and our coxswains are growing more comfortable at being at the helm of a 60-foot piece of carbon. Realizing all this just makes me even that much more excited for Saturday’s race, where the extent of our progress will really be tested. Sadly, the Erie Canal is likely to still be frozen over for at least a week (possibly two) when we get back, so we really need to make our time on the water down here count!
In the meantime, I’m going to watch March Madness and see how much more of my bracket I’ve already gotten wrong. Stay tuned for Saturday’s race results!
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