The team will be competing at the Textile River Regatta this Sunday, October 6, 2024.
The Regatta is a popular fall head race on the Merrimack River in Lowell, Massachusetts. The 2024 regatta will be held on Sunday, October 6. The TRR is a 3.5 mile race that includes a variety of sculling and sweep events for all boat classes, from juniors to masters. The event is organized by the Merrimack River Rowing Association (MRRA) in collaboration with the UMass-Lowell and Lowell High School Rowing programs. The TRR is a great place for athletes to train before the Head of the Charles Regatta. The first TRR was held in 1980, following the revival of the University of Lowell rowing program. Information on parking can be found here.
This will be the first race for the novices, so we are busting out the food tent! For those of you who are new to the team, fall races are all day events! Regatta organizers are still working on the event schedule, but the team should expect to leave CBC early in the morning (think: 5:30am) and return late afternoon. I’ll send more logistics (race schedule, parking info, results page, etc.) out later this week, but for now let’s talk about food and how we can all support the team.
For all-day races, we set up a food tent and serve the kids breakfast and lunch, and provide healthy snacks throughout the day, with slightly less healthy snacks for the bus ride home. Some notes about food at regattas:
- We have traditionally provided the team with snacks and meals at regattas so that everyone on the team is fueled up and ready to perform at their best. Race days are long (10-12 hours) and there are rarely food vendors readily available.
- We spend roughly $1500 – $3000 per regatta to feed everyone. The total cost per race will vary depending on the number of kids racing, the length of the day, and what’s on the menu. Total mouths to feed can be 100-130+ people.
- Neither the school nor FOCA provide food or funds to feed the team. All race day meals/snacks are organized by the parent board, served by family volunteers, and paid for by the CRLS Crew families. We rely on the support of families to feed the team.
- If you are able to contribute to our food fund, we would appreciate it. Please know that no family is required to pay anything, and that NO ATHLETE WILL EVER BE DENIED FOOD. If, however, you are in a position to contribute money to cover others, we will happily accept. If you would like to talk further about suggested donation amounts, or how we handle this, please feel free to reach out.
Let’s talk about the menu! This weekend we are having bagels and yogurt with fruit and honey for breakfast, and burgers (meat and veggie) for lunch. We will have plenty of veggies and dips, as well as healthy snacks suggested by our guest nutritionist. If this menu presents significant challenges for your rower due to allergies or dietary restrictions, please reach out ASAP! Also, if you’re a foodie and have some ideas that will put this menu to shame, please join our food committee! We have another big regatta at the end of the month and we will happily put you to work!
Now on to the fun part: working the tent! A Signup Genius for this weekend is available here. Job descriptions are below. Board member Carroll will be the main point of contact for logistics this weekend, and she, along with our esteemed colleagues Melissa and Amy, will lead a Zoom meeting this Wednesday to go over volunteer duties. This is a great race to both volunteer for and watch, and there will be plenty of experienced volunteers around to answer questions.
- Shoppers. Do you like to shop? If so, this job is for you. We provide a very detailed list, and you can order online or shop in-person at BJs or Costco. You will need a membership at one or the other. After you get the food, you can drop it off with Carroll. Ideally this happens Friday or Saturday. Save your receipts and we will reimburse you promptly!
- Supply Transport/Site Set-up/Breakfast Service. 5:00am – 9:00am Are you an early morning person? Great! We need 6 people with big cars to pick up our site supplies from our trailer on New Street on SATURDAY, and then drive up to Lowell EARLY SUNDAY MORNING and set up our tents. You will then lay out breakfast for the kids. PLEASE EXPECT TO BE IN LOWELL AROUND 5:30AM. Breakfast will be prepared while the kids are unloading the boat trailer and rigging boats, and served around 6:30am (please note that these times are dependent on the final race schedule, which should be available on Wednesday-Thursday).
- Lunch. 10:00am – 1:00pm If you like food but don’t like to get up at the crack of dawn, please consider working the lunch shift. Lunch workers help clear out the breakfast stuff and then focus on the grilling! These volunteers also replenish the snacks.
- Clean-up/Supply Transport 2:00pm – 5:00pm The clean-up crew strikes the tents, packs up the supplies, and loads everything back into their cars for the return to our supply trailer on New Street. We will meet you at the trailer and put everything away until next time.
- Dishwashers. This one is for the clean freaks! Take home our knives and spatulas and bowls and random cooking stuff and give them a good scrub. Bring everything back to CBC at your leisure, or reach out and we will come pick everything up!
- Contributions. This is an important job. As noted above, money to feed the team comes from our families. If you are able to support our efforts, please do. We’ve included a dollar amount on the sign-up, but will accept any amount, and if you are able to contribute enough to cover others, fantastic! We are so grateful for the generosity of the CRLS Crew families! Cash or Venmo (@Amy-Moldrem) are welcome.
