Frostbite rowing event draws young competitors

The weather was better than expected yesterday at the start of the 38th annual Frostbite Regatta at Green Lake, where rowers from all over the West Coast converged for one of the fall's biggest races.

Roughly 1,200 competitors turned out — 300 more than last year. Most of the rowers at the invitational event were junior competitors — high-school kids wearing easily peeled sweats over their racing tank tops and shorts. Some wore flip-flops. Without socks.

Parents in parkas, clutching binoculars and cameras, milled around the finish line while boosters dispensed hot chocolate and apples from tables under white tents.

Watching in anticipation were parents Joe and Cynthia Pringle, who rose at 3:10 a.m. to catch the 4:45 ferry from Vashon Island. This was their son Kyle's first race.

"They love it. Something tells them to get on the water half-naked," said Cynthia Pringle, who wore her son's Vashon Island Rowing Club sweat shirt over her shoulders. Kyle was set to row in the first race down the 1,000-meter course, scheduled for 7:20 a.m.

The five rookie boats had trouble at the starting line and were held until 8:05. Finally under way, they came down the course, excited rowers pulling slightly out of sync with each other. At the finish line, a crew from Everett crossed first.

"Everett always has a good novice boat," said Green Lake boys coach Ed Maxwell.

The race day began cool and cloudy but windless and dry, ideal conditions for rowing. By noon, though, a light rain had begun that grew steadier, and wind kicked up enough that some races had to be shortened, said Kathy Whitman, aquatics manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation. A few of the single-shell races were canceled, she said.

Maxwell, who's been coaching the Seattle Parks and Recreation rowing program for 17 years, says the biggest change he's seen is that rowing has become a lot more popular among college-bound girls. Many universities have rowing scholarships for women as a way of satisfying their Title IX mandates, Maxwell said.

"There's a lot of college scholarships," said Hilary Waldo, 16, from Brisbane, Calif., and part of the Peninsula Aquatic Center Junior Crew.

The varsity rowers said they were shopping their crew experience to college coaches.

The girls said rowing wasn't the easiest sport, especially with morning practices.

"It's a race to practice, to the showers and to class," said Ash-Lee Rud, 17, a senior from Belmont, Calif., rowing for Peninsula.

It looked more like a slumber party at the Holy Names Academy camp, where the novice team curled up under sleeping bags.

With careful application of duct tape, they'd customized maroon racing shirts with their seat numbers and nicknames. They liked that they were slotted in an outside lane for their race.

"That means we can't run into anybody on one side," said Laura Foster, 15. "We're novvies."

Sarah Anne Wright: swright@seattletimes.com.