Mother's Day Crew

Christian

While most of my Sundays at Groton are the epitome of lazy, this Mother’s Day was a little different. My Sunday this week began bright and early, with the sun just barely beating me to the morning sky. I popped out of bed at 5:30 a.m. in preparation for a 6:30 bus departure to Manchester, New Hampshire, where both the boys and girls varsity crew teams would compete in a Mother’s Day regatta.

There were three reasons why waking up so early in the morning was beyond worth it:

Mother’s Day. There was no possibility of my brother, Aidan, wishing our mom a “Happy Mother’s Day” before I did, further solidifying my spot as the better son.
Waffles. When I met the rest of the team in the Dining Hall at 6:00 a.m., we were met with three steaming waffle makers, a pitcher of batter, an array of toppings, and unlimited possibilities. A Dining Hall full of waffles and a few dozen hungry rowers led to tons of consumed calories and murmurs of excitement as we anticipated the race to come. Unsure whether or not to put Groton’s famous waffles as number 1 on my list, I figured putting waffles in second place would ruffle the least amount of feathers.
The Races. After a challenging week of practices on the Nashua River, everyone on the team was excited to compete this weekend. With several schools pulling out of the regatta over the course of the past week, we sought to race against our expectations of ourselves. And that we did. Taking advantage of the beautiful day and serene water by the Amoskeag Rowing Club, Groton came out of the race with a string of impressive results, with Groton boats winning six of the seven races of the day.

I have yet to feel anything comparable to the moment after a crew race. The euphoric adrenaline that comes with winning a race is unearthly, momentarily lifting the weight of my throbbing body from the boat and suspending it above the water. We sat together, collapsed in our seats, smiling through our gasps for breath as we congratulated each other and the opposing boats. The camaraderie just beyond the finish line saturated the air around us as we slowly rowed back to the dock. I, along with the others on my boat (Robbie ‘23, Kyle ‘22, Torin ‘22, and Mimi ‘24) will share this moment of camaraderie in our memories forever. Without a doubt, this trumped an early wake-up.

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