One of the oldest sports in the world has a home at AMHS, even if its not highly advertised. Rowing, or crew as it’s called in the U.S., dates back to Ancient Egyptian times and is based a team or sometimes just one person on propelling a boat through the water. In fact, it’s one of the oldest Olympic sports and has been competed in every year since 1900. Rowing attracts a large range of athletes from AMHS students to the beloved Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who rowed for a period of time after university.

The AMHS rowing team had 4 boats entered in the Head of the South regatta last weekend. A head race is a 5k race, plus the added 5k up to the start, just for background! Since the race is based on time instead of order, boats are launched in waves as opposed to all at once. Grace Ford-Dirks rowed a single (1x) where she came in 5th out of 7, with a season best time of 22:03.

There was a varsity women’s 4+ consisting of Grace Ford-Dirks, Taylor Kahn-Perry, Evelyn Finch, and ML Guerreri, and they placed 11th out of 24 with a season best time of 18:55. There were two mixed 4+s entered as well. The B boat consisted of Taylor
Kahn-Perry, ML Guerreri, Logan Graham, and Jack Carroll who came in 5th out of 7. The A boat consisted of Grace Ford-Dirks, Evelyn Finch, Jonathan Zuraw, Robert Lowery, and Harrison Kerr. They came in 1st out of 7, coming out 33 seconds ahead of the second place boat with another season best time of 18:01! The rowing team had a previous regatta in late October, the Secret City Head Race, where Ford-Dirks’ women’s boat came in 7th of 8, the men’s boat came in 9th of 11, and Ford-Dirks placed 9th out of 10 in her 1x, which was actually her first time ever racing a 1x. They are entering into their intensive winter training period to prepare for the upcoming spring season. They are looking for new members, who should contact Grace Ford-Dirks or the other captain, Jonathan Zuraw, if they want to join!