2008 Woodie Awards
Raider Men's Crew Sweeps Upstate Rivals
Dan Malessa
Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Sports
It's 5:30 a.m. on a blustery Thursday morning in Hamilton. You look outside only to see darkness staring back at you. Your other senses tell you more, namely that the wind is pounding against your window and the snowdrifts are building by your car. Reluctantly, you avoid the growing temptation to fall back asleep. You pause a moment to stretch, throw on some sweatpants and bravely march outside to face the elements. It's a Thursday morning at Colgate University and while the rest of the campus is fast asleep, you are a member of the Colgate varsity crew team - your day is just beginning.
According to senior rower Mike McCarthy, there is only one way to survive this training: "You just try not to think."
Upon arriving for practice, you soon become intimate with a torture device known as "the erg." The ergometer is a machine that simulates the rowing motion, and on a typical winter morning a rower will spend over an hour on the device, relentlessly repeating the same motion over and over again. The team's resilience is all the more amazing when one considers that there is little hope of actually rowing on the water - Lake Moraine, your "home water," is completely frozen for almost the entire season. Therefore, while crews at other schools are honing their technique and stroke outdoors, Colgate is forced to do so indoors.
What gives the crew members the motivation to continue? For one, it's because as a member of the Colgate crew team, you are also a member of a national championship squad. That's right: Last June, while many of us were enjoying our summer, the Colgate men's four won a national championship in Camden, N.J. The boat consisted of seniors Dave Galos, Paul Kelly, Mike McCarthy and Ryan Cole '04.
"Our victory over schools like Harvard and Yale - two rowing powerhouses - showed the determination with which we practiced leading up to the race," Kelly said.
If hard work and immense determination made last year's team worthy of being called national champions, it's difficult to imagine the possibilities for this year's group. "Last fall was very successful and, after the winter workouts, I think we will do very well in the upcoming races," Galos said.
According to senior rower Mike McCarthy, there is only one way to survive this training: "You just try not to think."
Upon arriving for practice, you soon become intimate with a torture device known as "the erg." The ergometer is a machine that simulates the rowing motion, and on a typical winter morning a rower will spend over an hour on the device, relentlessly repeating the same motion over and over again. The team's resilience is all the more amazing when one considers that there is little hope of actually rowing on the water - Lake Moraine, your "home water," is completely frozen for almost the entire season. Therefore, while crews at other schools are honing their technique and stroke outdoors, Colgate is forced to do so indoors.
What gives the crew members the motivation to continue? For one, it's because as a member of the Colgate crew team, you are also a member of a national championship squad. That's right: Last June, while many of us were enjoying our summer, the Colgate men's four won a national championship in Camden, N.J. The boat consisted of seniors Dave Galos, Paul Kelly, Mike McCarthy and Ryan Cole '04.
"Our victory over schools like Harvard and Yale - two rowing powerhouses - showed the determination with which we practiced leading up to the race," Kelly said.
If hard work and immense determination made last year's team worthy of being called national champions, it's difficult to imagine the possibilities for this year's group. "Last fall was very successful and, after the winter workouts, I think we will do very well in the upcoming races," Galos said.