Like mother like daughter at Head of the Charles

Thirty years ago, then 16-year-old Kate Crowe stroked a St. Catharines Rowing Club eight to a gold medal at the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.

This past weekend on the three-mile course that starts at Boston University’s DeWolfe Boathouse near the Charles River Basin and finishes just after the Eliot Bridge and before Northeastern University’s Henderson Boathouse, Crowe’s 16-year-old daughter, Autumn Crowe, won a gold medal in the under-17 single and second overall in a field of 48 under-17 and under-19 rowers. Denis Morris student and St. Catharines Rowing Club member Cait Whittard was third.

Competitors start the race at 15-second intervals with the starting order determined by the crew’s finishing time in the previous year. Boats that did not compete in the prior year are seeded after all prior year entrants in a random order. Crowe was seeded 43rd and she would have to pass countless boats to have a shot at winning the event. Crews must yield to faster boats that close to within one boat length of open water.

“I passed most of the 40s, a lot of the 30s, some boats in the 20s and I did end up passing boat No. 15 and I was getting down in the numbers,” the Grade 11 student at Ridley College said.

Moving along and passing boats is not easy on the tricky course that includes six bridges.

“The course is very difficult and super windy. With starting so far behind it was definitely a challenge picking the course you want that has the shortest amount of metres because everyone wants the same course,” she said. “When you are trying to pass someone it ends up being very competitive.”

When Crowe crossed the finish line, she was told she had won the race by coach Nancy Storrs, who also coached her mother 30 years ago.

“Honestly I thought she was joking. I had no expectations of winning. I had my own personal goals and I wasn’t aiming for any placing. When I found out that I did come first for U17, I was very, very surprised.”

When it has sunk it that she had finished first, she told herself that she deserved the victory.

“I had put in all the work to get there and I was so grateful to be there because my coaches had put in so much effort for me to be there. And so had my mom with the late hotel booking, making sure my boat was able to get here and everything like that.”

Crowe is coached at the club level by Storrs and at Ridley College by Siobhan McLaughlin.

She was thrilled to join her mother as Head of the Charles champion.

“It is insane and I can’t believe that it worked out like that that it is 30 years apart and we were the same age when we won. It’s pretty cool.”

Her mom had been central in her rowing career.

“I would never have joined rowing if she hadn’t have done it and she has played a big part.”

Kate drives her to every early morning practice in the summer, leaving the house around 5 a.m.

“She is so supportive and plays an important role in all I do.”

Crowe found out in early September she had been accepted into the regatta forcing her mom to scramble to find a hotel room in Boston during an event that attracts more than 225,000 people, including 11,000 athletes, to Boston and injects $72 million into the local economy.

“It is a very prestigious regatta and my school has gone in the past so I thought it was a good idea to put my name in the lottery to see if I could get a spot,” she said. “Originally I didn’t get one but someone scratched so I ended up getting a spot. I have been racing in a single for a while now and we thought I would be able to do well in it.”

She rowed the course for the first time last Friday and she had to practice on a watercourse that was crazy busy.

“There were so many boats and being in a single it is very intimidating with all the bigger boats out there.”

Crowe trained this past summer at the NextGen Rowing Centre in Welland and that helped her in Boston.

“I was on the water twice a day instead of once and I was able to put in the hours to get technically better.”
She has big goals for her rowing career.

“I want to continue rowing and get a scholarship in the States and I also have national team aspirations and possibly row at the Olympics,” she said. “I really love rowing and I want to take it as far as I can go.”

Crowe was a swimmer before she took up rowing.

“I’ve always loved the water and being able to be outside. It’s very painful but at the same time it is very relaxing.”