Hornung helps Martime win gold

Thursday, 05 November 2009 09:27

Ali Hornung of Weston was the coxswain of the Maritime Rowing Club’s women’s four boat that won the gold medal at Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia on Oct. 24 at Boathouse Row.

Maritime Rowing Club finished first in 16:35, 30 seconds faster than the nearest competitor, Manhasset (N.Y.) High School. The women’s four boat was looking to prove its mettle after some tough luck the previous weekend at the Head of the Charles.

Located across from the Maritime Aquarium in South Norwalk, the club carried on the tradition and continued to build on its earlier fall successes. It fielded two eights and a four on a day characterized by warm and almost continuous rain showers. While wet, the weather was decidedly better than the prior weekend’s Nor’Easter at the Head of the Charles in Boston.

Maritime’s varsity eight and second varsity eight boats raced against 31 other junior crews. The varsity boat, coxed by Katherine Isaza, also won gold medal , finishing 13 seconds ahead of Mount St. Joseph’s in 15:18. Mt. St. Joseph’s had beaten Maritime here in the previous year, so it was an especially pleasant victory for the Connecticut girls. Later, in the same event, Maritime’s second varsity eight boat, coxed by Andi Cara, finished ninth in 16:26.

This Fall, the Maritime varsity eight is undefeated having won gold at Head of the Riverfront, Head of the Housatonic, Head of the Charles and Head of the Schuylkill.

After the races, Coach Liz Trond said, “Our goal was to finish our boats in the top ten, so we accomplished that.”

The Head of the Schulkyll is the last East Coast race of the fall season for Maritime. The club will now fly to Southern California for the Newport Fall Rowing Festival. There it will race against the top west coast crews, including Oakland Strokes, Marin Rowing Association, Los Gatos and Newport Aquatic Center.