Lone St. Louis rower to keep rivalry alive

Organizers of the Arkansas Boathouse Club's inaugural Six Bridges Regatta will revive an old rivalry with the St. Louis Rowing Club on Saturday -- whether St. Louis shows up or not.

"We have issued challenge after challenge to the St. Louis Rowing Club to come down," says Lynnette Watts of the North Little Rock boathouse. "An individual from that club has signed up, but not a crew.

"We are re-establishing that rivalry, that St. Louis Cup that went back and forth, and we are calling it the Governor's Cup," Watts says. "Gov. Beebe actually challenged Gov. Jay Nixon to try to help us get that St. Louis crew here.

"We will run the race whether we have an opponent or not.

"Our thought is that in future years we are going to challenge other states to enter a state boat."

The regatta promises boat action on the Arkansas River from 7:30 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Saturday, with the races easily viewed anywhere along the Arkansas River Trail from North Little Rock's skate park on River Road to the Junction Bridge.

Even without a four- or eight-person crew from St. Louis, Six Bridges will be an interstate event.

"We've got about 50 entries," Watts says. Besides the one rower from St. Louis, coming to compete with youth and masters crews from the North Little Rock club will be Rhodes College in Memphis, the Dallas Rowing Club, the Rowing Club of Northwest Arkansas and several racers who don't belong to a club. The fledgling Russellville Rowing Club will volunteer at the event.

Unlike the recent Junction Bridge Regattas conducted by the Junction Bridge Board, which have been exhibitions by the Boathouse and the Grand Maumelle Sailing Club, Six Bridges is a U.S. Rowing-sanctioned head race, that is, a 5K event with with a referee, electronic timing and course marshals.

Rowing shells will pull upriver three miles until they're roughly even with the Big Rock Quarry, where they will turn around and then race the clock east to the finish line, which will be just before the Junction Bridge.

Some downtown restaurants plan to provide support sections for visiting crews, Watts says. Spectators interested in cheering for North Little Rock can look for oars with the Arkansas Boathouse Club's distinctive yellow blades.

More information is at arkansasboathouseclub.org.

-- Celia Storey

ActiveStyle on 08/25/2014

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