2006 Crew Team: The Stuff of Legends

What the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t do, our incredible Cambridge Oarsmen have done.

Mike Miersma and Jesse Bates won the gold medal in the double scull at the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati on June 11. It is almost impossible for those of us who have not participated in Crew to understand and appreciate how very hard it is to achieve what Mike and Jesse have achieved.

So we would like to share the final paragraphs of John Seel ’s account of the race. John was the first Cambridge crew coach.

Cambridge was rowing in a red Australian Sykes shell borrowed from the Dallas Rowing Club. It was a banged-up boat; not nearly as beautiful as the sleek yellow German Empachers their competitors were racing. This particular boat has a notorious history. It had fallen off the DRC trailer across four lanes of traffic at 70 mph two years earlier while returning from a regatta in Tennessee. The shell had seen better days—picture an entry to a demolition derby up against a new Porsche. After a practice row in Cincinnati, the old repair was beginning to break down and water was found to be seeping into the hull, potentially adding weight to the boat. A makeshift patch was placed over the crack to hold out the water. As ESD crew coach Troy Howell commented later, “The Cambridge athletes proved once again that it is never the chariot that wins races, but the horses.”

The double final was held on Sunday, June 11th at 10:20 a.m., in a stiff headwind under cloudy skies. In the final doubles race were crews from the Newport Aquatic Center (CA), Conestoga High School (NY), The Cambridge School of Dallas (TX), North Allegheny High School (PA), Chesapeake Boathouse (OK), and Malvern Preparatory School (PA). Cambridge led from the start, but while leading, did not dominate the other boats as expected.

At the 1,750 mark four of the five other boats made a move to catch Cambridge who had been comfortably rowing with an open-water lead. Over 3,000 spectators roared their encouragement as the race came down to a final sprint testing the conditioning of each oarsman. Sensing the challenge, Bates and Miersma wordlessly shifted into their famed “fifth gear” and sprinted to a 7-second win over second place North Allegheny.

Three years ago, Miersma set the Cambridge record of falling out of his shell into the murky water of Bachman Lake. A Wycliffe missionary kid from Kenya, he had never seen rowing or tried balancing a racing shell. Today, he is a National Champion. This fall Mike will be rowing for the United States Naval Academy and Jesse will be rowing for St. John’s College, both in Annapolis, MD.

Their contribution to the Cambridge rowing program is the stuff that legends are made of.

Indeed, it is the stuff of legends. The Cambridge School community could not be prouder. We are proud not only of Mike and Jesse but also of all our crew athletes who take on the challenges of this sport and typically other Cambridge sports as well. We are proud of all the crew parents whose support and funding make it possible for us to maintain the program. We are proud of Pat Hamner for his incredible commitment to Cambridge crew and for serving as coach while we continue our recruiting efforts.