Cancun. Cabo San Lucas. Daytona Beach. Jamaica. Well-known locations for spring break devotees everywhere. And after Spring Break 2006, add one more hotspot to the list: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

While St. Ignatius students scattered the globe to get some rest and relaxation, the rowers and coxes of Ignatius Chicago Crew hit the river to enjoy some sun and fun right here in Chicago while packing in crucial training time before heading into the home stretch of the spring season. Having logged the hours on the water, the team put the training to good use at the Grand Rapids High School Invitational Regatta on Saturday, April 22. 

The ICC team bus traveled to Grand Rapids on Friday to give the crews some practice time at the race site. With a shortage of parent chaperones, Coaches Daniela Bono and Vinu Joseph volunteered to go along for the bus ride. Within five minutes of the bus leaving SICP, Coach Joe summed up his decision thusly: “I’ve made a huge mistake.” 

Three hours, one stop at McDonald’s and several AWKWARD moments later, the bus arrived in Grand Rapids. ICC benefited from the hospitality of the regatta hosts from Forest Hills Central High School, who provided launches for the coaches to guide the crews up and down the river. 

After a Friday night of pizza, swimming and non-hazardous buffoonery, ICC hit the race course on Saturday morning ready to row. The novice girls—competing in the novice eight and in the JV eight and four events—had their days end early in the heats, despite some very strong races. The novice eight was kept out of the final despite posting the sixth fastest times from the heats, while one of the junior four entries came just over a second from qualifying. 

The varsity girls fared better in their events. The varsity eight fought its way into the finals, where it came up just short of the medals with a strong fourth-place finish. And after a strong first-place finish in heats, the varsity four also finished fourth in a tight final that saw the second, third and fourth place boats finished in a one second span. 

The novice boys made Grand Rapids a coming-out party—of sorts—with strong showings in the novice eight and junior four. The novices’ entry in the junior four cruised into the finals with a second-place performance in heats before falling to sixth-place in the finals. However, the boys shined in the novice eight, winning their heat and pounding out a silver medal finish in the finals. 

The varsity boys—competing in the varsity and JV fours and the varsity eight—had mixed results on the day. The entry in the JV four fell in the heats, while all three of ICC’s entries in the varsity four qualified for the finals, which netted a gold medal finish. In a three-boat varsity eight final, ICC fell to a strong Pioneer crew (eschewing their traditional chuck wagons).

All in all, a fine day for ICC, including a ton of great food and family support at the ICC tent. The racing was made all the better by the fact that the events actually ran on schedule, a rarity in crew. ICC closed out the trip by traveling back to the river site to get the boats unloaded and rigged in record time so crews could hit the water immediately on Monday. 

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to support our crews on the weekend and who adjusted their schedules to get them to practice at odd hours during break. ICC will dive right back into racing with back-to-back regattas on April 29-30: the Parents Regatta at Culver and the Judge Dunne in Skokie. Until next time, have two scull the bow, it’s not over until we say it’s over and for heaven’s sake, stop putting toothpaste in Coach Joe’s hair.