The Windermere Cup is annually a busy and big week for Washington rowers, but coming just months after the release of the movie “The Boys in the Boat” — with five actors who portrayed Husky rowers in town — there are even more distractions than normal.
That’s just fine with Washington men’s rowing coach Michael Callahan and Husky women’s coach Yaz Farooq, whose teams take on the University of Wisconsin and Italian national teams on the Montlake Cut on Saturday, the highlight of the opening day of boating season.
“You have to govern your energy,” Callahan said at a Thursday news conference at Conibear Shellhouse promoting Saturday’s races. “A lot of times, parents are flying in from around the world, and even local parents are coming in for practice. We have some press. We have other guests, we have other teams coming in and it’s easy get very distracted.
“So it does help everyone to learn how to focus in on big moments. It’s a learning opportunity to focus in on a championship moment that’s going to happen in the next [few] weeks [in the Pac-12 and national championships].”
Said Farooq: “The gift of [the] Windermere [Cup] is it’s the perfect preparation for the Pac-12 championships. When you get to the conference championship, it almost seems like things are a little calmer, and you can really dial it in. So I think it’s really great for us.”
That Washington is facing Wisconsin has added meaning to Farooq because she rowed for Wisconsin before becoming an Olympic coxswain.
“It’s been my dream to see the two UWs line up,” Farooq said. “Here, they always say that I came from the other UW.”
In the 1936 Summer Olympics, the Washington rowers led the U.S. eight to a win over Italy, which won the silver medal. Saturday’s race will be a rematch of sorts.
The Wisconsin men are coached by Beau Hoopman, who helped the U.S. eight to a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The following year, he competed at the Windermere Cup.
He has great memories from that May in 2005.
“It’s just how close everyone is to you,” he said. “You don’t get that very often in rowing. There are people lining those [log] booms all the way down to the Cut, and then once you get to the cut, it is the loudest [course] I’ve ever been in — the last 250 meters was even louder than it was in Athens because [the sound] echoes in the Cut itself.
“… It’s going to surprise our guys, honestly, because they’re used to just their parents being at races. That’s it. It’s going to be a little bit of a shock, but it will get them excited. Hopefully it’ll speed them up.”
There will be 23 noncollege and college races Saturday, beginning at 10:15 a.m. The women’s Windermere Cup begins at 11:30 and the men’s Windermere Cup at 11:45.
First endowment coaching position
Callahan announced Thursday that the UW men’s coaching position will become the first endowed head-coaching position in the history of UW athletics, thanks to a gift from the Nordstrom family to honor the late Blake Nordstrom. That ensures the position will not be impacted by the ups and downs in the budget.
Nordstrom, who graduated in 1982, rowed at UW and was a longtime member of the Washington Rowing Stewards. He died in 2019.
“I’m very honored to be the first recipient,” Callahan said. “Blake was not only a mentor, but a good friend. He meant a lot to all of us. He had such a strong impact on so many people here. His legacy will live on through many, many generations of Washington oarsmen — men and women.”
Note
- The Twilight Sprints will take place at 8 p.m. Friday. The boats that will compete in the two Windermere Cup races will compete in an approximate 600-meter sprint, starting from the traditional Montlake Cut finish line and finishing in front of the old ASUW Shellhouse.
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