Bainbridge Island Rowing enjoyed a great weekend at southern Oregon’s Covered Bridge Regatta 2018, April 13-15. Masters, varsity, and novice teams alike made an excellent showing and pocketed a sizable cache of medals in all colors.

BIR was one of 26 teams to compete at Covered Bridge, and it fielded multiple boats—A, B, and C—in a number of races. The highlights were the 1st-place finishes in the

• women’s junior novice 8+,
• women’s junior novice 4+,
• men’s junior varsity 2-,
• women’s junior varsity 2-,
• men’s junior JV 4+, and
• men’s junior JV 8+.

BIR grabbed lots of other medals as well, including silver in

• women’s masters 2x,
• men’s junior novice 4+,
• men’s junior varsity 2-,
• women’s junior JV 8+,
• women’s junior varsity 8+,
• women’s junior varsity 4+, and
• women’s junior JV 4+.

The men’s masters 4+ finished just six-tenths of a second behind Corvallis to grab second place in an exciting finish. BIR bronze medalists included the

• women’s junior novice 4+,
• men’s junior varsity 2-,
• women’s junior varsity 2-,
• women’s masters 4+,
• mixed masters 8+,
• men’s junior JV 8+,
• women’s masters 2X,
• women’s junior novice 8+, and
• women’s junior JV 2X.

BIR accomplished all this despite the fact that, unlike many other teams, BIR doesn’t start rowers until 9th grade; we have no JV, so novices are often competing against more seasoned rowers; and our varsity automatically includes all second-year rowers.

Last weekend’s collegiate Covered Bridge matchup was cancelled due to rain, but although skies were cloudy for this weekend, there was no washout. The varsity and novice rowers camped out in the gym of the Lowell Middle School. The BIR volunteer camp kitchen team kept everyone well fed, starting out with a pasta dinner Friday night and culminating in a fruit and eggs breakfast Sunday morning.

The regatta, which is held every year in Lowell, Oregon, near Eugene at Dexter Reservoir, is named for the Lowell Bridge, the widest covered bridge in Oregon. The bridge was built in 1945 to replace the damaged 1907 bridge, which had been built to replace ferry service across the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. It’s been closed to auto traffic for 30 some years. There are three other covered bridges nearby. Lowell Bridge makes a scenic backdrop to all the races, which run diagonally across the reservoir.

Photos courtesy of Julian Byron, Linda Cox, Sue Entress, and Charlie King.