Southern Sprints 2023

 The Southern Sprints have been happening since 1983, 40 years worth, I have volunteered to work them for more than 20 of those years. It has been near 20 years of posting the results and handing out the medals. I have pictures back to 2008, the 25th anniversary when I took a photo of each winner as I gave them their medal. I have a photo of me sorting through the medals back in 2005. In 1999, I was working the computers for the races at BCC.

Then the pandemic hit and for two years the event went on, but virtually, through computer feeds. I did not have to hand out the virtual medals. But this year, the first weekend of February in 2023, we were back at the Clemente Center on the Florida Institute of Technology campus and we had live racing again.

Because of a large decrease in participants, we did not set up 64 ergs as in the past for racing, but there were only 20 needed. Therefore we did not need the whole basketball court for the races, we could keep the large wall that separates the area partially closed. It actually made things a little better for us as organizers and volunteers.

We still had time for the National anthem at the start of the races. Side note, I have heard that a few times. My Journal has 648 sporting events I have attended, and probably 98% of those I have heard the National Anthem. If you add up all the High School and College events I have attended, it it easily over two years worth of days listening to this song. There were other anthems too and I have heard the Canadian "O Canada" many times. The start of the Southern Sprints...

We had a pretty good crowd for the start of the Southern Sprints of 2023.

The first racers of the day were Master's Women events. That is Casey Baker with the arm sling. He use to be the coach for rowing at FIT and still is deeply involved in this event.

Also, John & Eileen Corelli have a big row (role) in the success of the race each year. That is John in the baby blue shirt watching intently during the High School Relays. Four girls each race 500 meters on the same erg, making for a fun race to watch with the seat transition being very important. This rowing has no water.

John's wife Eileen (standing in the middle), took over the search for volunteers this year because of the loss of Ann Bernick, a long time organizer and volunteer. Ann passed away in 2022 in an unexpected accident while in DC. Eileen said she had to get three new volunteers to cover all the tasks Ann use to do. Ann was deeply missed but we put up pictures of here around to remind us of her. I felt that she was there with us. This table was race central from the computer point of view. All results from the ergs were sent here where we verify and print out the results. I check them again and my helper Sandy and I would post them on a wall.

BTW, Eileen went to Florida Tech with me in the late 80s where we both got our Master degrees in Math. I brought Eileen back to the Melbourne area  to work at ENSCO. She met John and they got married. She left ENSCO before I retired and now teaches at EFSC.

Other volunteers include Billie and Tim, working at the Weigh-in table here. You probably have seen that the old-time volunteers have the baby-blue shirts. They even let me wear one. Weigh ins are important for the Light Weight race categories. If you make weight, you get a wrist band.

The next photo is my medals table. Since I was taking the pictures, you only get to see my seat. You can see Ann's photo on the wall and table. We give out medals, plaques for the relays, and there are three cups handed out for team points. The one on the right is called the Corelli Cup and is given to the Club with the most team points.

We give medals for most races for the top three spots; we have a Gold, Silver and Bronze. Here is a shot of the 2023 Gold Medal.

John likes to walk around and make sure everything is working correctly. Casey likes to announce the races. We do display the racers on a big screen so they can see how they are doing relative to the other races. If you are out front, you really are not physically in the lead since the ergs are stationary, so we try to show where they would be if on the water.

In this day and age, it is very common for people to take photos of the medal winners. Below are Club races from ROCCS, Rowing Organization Of Citrus County Students. In the background, you can see where we post the results. We usually give 15 minutes before we make them official. Sometimes things are wrong or disputed. Someone sits on the wrong erg or does not make weight. Most races have a lightweight and heavyweight class.

Some teams have the coaches collect the medals from me and then hand them out in a small ceremony in front of the whole team. This was the North Palm Beach Rowing Club.

The medal winners from North Palm Beach take a group photo...

And the parents and coaches take the photos...

We post the results online too so people can print a copy.

The Club Cup Points were:

• 1st - South Orlando Rowing - 291 pts
• 2nd - Lake County Rowing - 211 pts
• 3rd - North Palm Beach Rowing Club - 128 pts
• 4th - Space Coast Crew - 68 pts (from Brevard County)
• 5th - Miami International Row House - 55 pts
• 6th - ROCCS Crew - 48 pts

The High School Cup points were:

• 1st - Melbourne High - 248 pts
• 2nd - The Bolles School Girls Crew - 109 pts (from Jacksonville)
• 3rd - St Thomas Aquinas High School - 95 pts (from Fort Lauderdale)
• 4th - Tampa Catholic Crew - 89 pts
• 6th - Hillsborough High School - 43 pts

We also have adaptive rowing competition with multiple categories. Here are the medal winners.

We also have the Tim Edsell Cup which are team results for the Adaptive races.

Although we only had 252 rowers this year, it was more than each two years of pandemic. In 2014, we had 1,586 rowers in the Southern Sprints. The NCAA made some rule changes for college participation so our numbers declined to about 1000 rowers for a few years before COVID. We are hoping the teams will start coming again. They will get a  longer notice for 2024 to make plans. I will let you know when it happens.