Reflecting Back on Head of the American 2013
Video by Evan Wright
Varsity rower Evan Wright filmed his novice experience last year. A lot of this footage was filmed during Head of the American in Sacramento, Calif. last October.
By Evan Mauno
When I went to Head of the American (HoA) for the first time in October 2013, I only had seven weeks of rowing experience. It was also the place where I knew for sure I would stay on the team. Up until this point, I only had a strong interest in rowing. After Head of the American, I fell in love with it. The morning practices and training we do is all for big races like these.
One of the few times I was a portside oarsman was at HoA (I have mostly been a starboard since). I was a part of bow pair in two-seat in the Cal State Long Beach A-Boat in the Men’s Collegiate Novice 8+. Out of twelve boats, we placed in sixth place with a final time of 19 minutes 22 seconds. It was faster than our timed trial back in Marine Stadium, which was what we wanted.
What I loved about HoA is how busy we were. Both the men’s and women’s teams crowded onto a single bus, drove all day to Sacramento, did a practice run of the course in Lake Natoma when we arrived, had one dinner together as a team, then shuttled off to the hotel for one night of rest. For race day, the morning and afternoon were filled with meetings, checking out the clothing and food vendors, cheering on our teammates, helping out with boats and oars, and of course, participating in our own races. It was a crazy, busy and absolutely joyous day.
What I look forward to at HoA this year is just to have the “experience” all over again — to push as hard as I can, to explore, to celebrate and to have fun. Head of the American was the place where I fell in love with my team and this sport. I hope this trip to Sacramento will be similar for the men and women’s novice teams this year.
Row Beach!
Photo by Stefano Balbusso
LBS Rowing men’s novices dressed elegantly at last year’s Head of the American to give a good impression amongst the other teams.
