500 Athletes to Compete on Petaluma River in 7th Annual Rowing Regatta

Visitors to Shollenberger Park are in for a grand show on Sunday, October 7th; it’s the best place from which to watch the 7th Annual Wine Country Rowing Classic, which brings 500 athletes to Petaluma. At 8:30 a.m., about 4,500 meters south of the fishing pier, the Collegiate Women’s Eights will pass the start boat and the clock will begin to tick on a 5,000-meter “head” race that boasts some of the best viewing opportunities on the West Coast, thanks to Shollenberger’s long riverside path. Ten minutes later, the Women’s Masters Quadruple Sculls will cross the start line. Throughout the day, until about 2:00 p.m., juniors (high school students), collegiate, and masters rowers (over 21) will speed down the course in various rowing shells, from singles to eights, hoping to overtake boats with earlier start times and to keep others from overtaking them. All together, 118 clubs will visit Petaluma for this US Rowing-registered regatta, co-hosted by the North Bay Rowing Club and SSU Crew. At press time, Event #20, the Mens Masters Fours, had the largest number of entries, with 14 boats battling for medals, their crews hailing from the East Bay, River City, Lake Merritt and Kent Mitchell Rowing Clubs as well as the Marin Rowing Association. The event is free to the spectating public, and supported by the efforts of the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance, whose docents will man the paths; as well as Community Bikes Petaluma, which will set up a five-bike corral in the marina/Sheraton parking lot and operate a pedicab to get visitors out to the riverside path in comfort and style. Vendors will offer food, athletic clothing and athletic-themed jewelry in the marina parking lot. The organizers invite everyone to come out and watch competitors challenge one another with both grace and power on the Petaluma River.