Excessive heat warning for DC metro!

Be smart in the heat, PBC!!!

An Excessive Heat Warning has been issued for the Washington Metropolitan area from noon until 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, 2010. The Heat Index may reach 110 degrees.

Visit the Centers for Disease Control web site for the warning signs of heat exhaustion and what you can do about it at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/faq.asp.

Those racing tomorrow up at Diamond State Masters regatta in DE, drink lots of water throughout the day.  Heed the early warning signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration.  Try to stay in the shade when you’re not racing, and GOOD LUCK!

Potomac’s Results for IDR 2010

Turns out, the weather up in Philadelphia for this year’s Independence Day Regatta (IDR) wasn’t so bad after all!

Missing from the racecourse, but not the initial heat sheets, was the women’s Masters Rowing Program. We’re told they decided to skip the holiday traffic. Hard to blame them for that! We’re sure we’ll see them up at Masters National Championships in August.

Below are the PBC IDR results we could dig up.  To see all the IDR results, please visit the results page here.

Good job, everybody!

12 Mens Junior 1x (G. Young) – 4th
13 Mens Junior 2x (N. Al-Naji, R. Rasmussen) – 2nd
17 Mens Junior 4x Potomac B.C. A (P. Lacey, T. Myers, E.Meade, J. Hanlon) – 2nd
17 Mens Junior 4x Potomac B.C. B (A. Casey, W. Richhart, G. Gellatly, P. Bates) – 4th
27 Mens Intermediate 2x (N. Al-Naji, R. Rasmussen) – 4th
27 Mens Intermediate 2x (E. Meade, J. Hanlon) - 6th
37 Mens Junior 1x (P. Lacey) – 6th
38 Mens Inter. Light 4x (W. Richhart, D.Thom, B. Vihstadt, G. Gellatly) – 3rd
44 Womens 1x (K. Stainken) – 3rd
44 Womens 1x (L. Krawczyk) – 6th
58b Mens Masters 1x (E) (E. Ryan) - 3rd
58c Mens Masters 1x (F) (N. Young) – 4th

Support PBC’s National Team athletes!

Update: PBC's Brendan McEwan made it to Belarus and to semis at U23 World Championships, but the team still needs our support!

Every little bit helps … and it’s all tax deductible!

• Click HERE to go straight to your donation options!

In less than a couple of weeks, our Brendan McEwan will represent the United States in the Men’s Single Sculls at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Brest, Belarus (July 22 - 25).  Brendan won his event at trials in June by 3.41 seconds, crossing the line in 6:59.294. He will be joined by Coach Reilly Dampeer, who has done a tremendous job helping him get ready.

And, hey! We’re proud to report again that Rob Rasmussen and Nader Al-Naji are on the Junior National Team roster!  Joined by Coach Deb Dryer, Rob and Nader will be racing in the double at the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships in Racice, Czech Republic (August 4 - 7).

Crazy kids.  All that energy.  Makes you want to take a load off, doesn’t it?  Well, while you’re sitting there, you’re gonna earn a chance to feel like you’re right there next to the guys when they step up to the winners’ podium … all without leaving your computer!

The charitable foundation created to support our National Team athletes, the Potomac River Sports Foundation (PRSF), figures our team still needs about $7,500 to fund our World Championships effort this year.  Basically, each boat costs about $1700 to rent and transport. The USRowing fee is $1,625 for each athlete. Add another $1300 for coach’s room, board, gear and flight. Well, you get the picture. Being an elite level rower ain’t cheap, folks!

Since we’re pretty sure none of us can cover the entire amount today, tax deductible or not, how about we do this thing together?  Fiddy from her.  A hundy from him.  A couple Gs from you.  And so on.  That way, we’ll all feel like we’re part of it when Brendan, Rob and Nader take those winning strokes across the finish line!

(Of course, if you do throw down the entire $7,500, just don’t tell us, so we’ll all still feel like we did something.  Thanks.)

Okay, so.  Got your credit card ready, PBC?  (Come on!  They need you!  And it’s tax deductible!)  To give using PayPal, click here.

If you would rather pay by check, just make it payable to “Potomac River Sports Foundation,” and then mail it to Paul Knight at the following the address:

Paul Knight, Treasurer
Potomac River Sports Foundation
c/o Nossaman LLP
1666 K Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20006

By the way, you can give to the PRSF all year long!

Best of luck to Brendan, Rob, Nader, Reilly and Deb! GO, PBC!!!

Stay tuned for a charitable group hug mid-August.

We LOVE the IDR.

Don't let the slight flutter of the flags fool you: It's hot as hizzell out there.

Funny. We used to dread the Independence Day Regatta (IDR) in Philadelphia. Nothing against the regatta itself, of course. It’s expertly run. It’s scenic and historic. And, yes, we admit it … we kind of dig the “old skool” style of some of the Philly refs. (We can’t help it.)

It’s really just everything else that bummed us out. Fighting the holiday weekend traffic on the way up there. The parking (or lack thereof) once we got there. Phillies Fans (just kidding; we’ll keep baseball out of this). Driving all the way back to DC with bellies full of meat (cheesesteaks) after a million races.

Anyway. You know what we’re talking about.

So, why would we love the IDR so much now?  Because darn if they (… and we’re guessing ”they” are the Schuylkill Navy’s Carole and Clete Graham) didn’t go make it SO easy for us to find every single Potomac Boat Club athlete signed up to race this weekend! All 45 or so of you!

Below is the list of the PBC folks you’ll want to root for - or watch out for - this weekend up in Philly.  See the numbers by each name?  Those are event numbers. Links to events and race schedules are below the list.

We just hope it’s as easy to get the big medal count next week after the regatta.  Row hard, PBC!

Potomac B.C. Competitors - IDR 2010

Al-Naji, Nader 13, 45
Bates, Philip 13, 17
Bryant, Virginia 29
Buffkin, Beverly 29
Calabro, Rosemarie 2
Capps, Cheryl 2, 29
Caraher, Hanne 29
Casey, Alex 13, 17
Chambers, Mary Beth 2, 29
Charles-Chisholm, Debbie 2, 29
Conzemius, Cory 2, 29
Desautels, Denise 29
Durfee, Camilla 31
Farber, Courtney 2, 29
Flanders, Joanna 2, 29
Fry, Kathy 2
Gellatly, Gordon 17, 27, 38
Hanlon, Joe 17, 27
Holland, Nick 58, 72
Kandell, Ellen 2, 8, 29
Kelleher, Elizabeth 29
Krawczyk, Lissa 44
Lacey, Patrick 17, 37
Landauer, Kathleen 2, 29
McCullough, Joani 2
Meade, Elliot 17, 27
Means, Marilyn 2, 29
Moncton, Jonathan 51
Myers, Tip 17, 27
O’Connor, S. A. 2, 29
O’Keefe, Catie 2, 29
Petrisko, Nancy 29
Pietra, Peter 59, 72
Rasmussen, Rob 13, 45
Richhart, Will 17, 38
Ryan, Ed 58, 72
Stainken, Katherine 44
Sternbach, Sally 2, 29
Sutliff, Cal 31, 58
Thom, Daniel 13, 38
Vihstadt, Ben 13, 38
Young, Giorgio 12
Young, Neal 58

Race schedules and other reports (yep, lifted right from the Boathouse Row IDR site at http://www.boathouserow.org/rega10/idr10.html):

Results from 29th Annual Scullers Head of the Potomac

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 29th Charlie Butt Annual Scullers Head of the Potomac (SHOP)!

For official 2009 results, visit the Potomac Boat Club website at http://potomacboatclub.org/result09.php.

Looking for photos of your race?

For Sportgraphics pics of Potomac Boat Club at the SHOP, go here.  To search for other teams, visit the Sportgraphics search page here.

Thanks to the many tireless volunteers who made this the best SHOP to date!

See you all next year!