Our former youth rower will be taking on the World in the Summer World University Games! Wes Vear and his team will be representing the U.S. and rowing against other University teams from around the globe in Gwangju, Korea this weekend in the Men's eight.

Korea is 13 hours AHEAD of the Eastern time zone. Here is the schedule:

Opening ceremony: July 3rd at 7:00 pm (6:00 am EST)
Heats: July 5th at 12:18 pm (July 4th 11:15 pm EST)
Finals: July 7th at 4:15 pm (3:15 am EST)

So have some coffee after the fireworks, and check out the live streaming feed, then make sure you catch the finals!

Live feed:
https://secure.livefisu.tv/register?utm_source=LiveFisu&utm_medium=DisplayBanner&utm_campaign=Gwangju2015

Rowing Schedule:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tb2dkpguw3fsukq/RowingSchedule.pdf?dl=0

Website (click on sport to drill down to live schedule, results, etc...):
http://www.gwangju2015.com/info/

Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/universiade2015usamensrowing

Team USA participated along with the other teams in the Opening Ceremony this morning.
Where's Waldo?? Well, Wes, in this case? Spotted. Look closely, he has his arms in the air and his hat on backwards, of course.

Good luck Team USA!

UPDATE 7/6/15:
Team USA took first place in their heat in the Mens 8+ at the Universiade 2015 games in Korea yesterday. Our former UPCRC youth rower, Wes Vear, rows seat 4 in that boat. Tomorrow they race in the finals. Go USA!!!

Local news channel WJMN highlighted Team USA's win in their first heat. Click here to see the story.

Update 7/7/15:
THEY TOOK THE GOLD!!
Wes, and his team won the gold in the Mens 8 Final! Congratulations Team USA! Have a safe trip home.
Watch  the YouTube video of the race (USA is in lane 3, Wes is in seat 4):
www.YouTube.com

Three out of three. What are the odds? Not good when rowing on Lake Superior, but Wednesday's novice row saw three days in a row of smooth, calm water (pun not intended). We got all 8 rowers rowing at the same time, and it was all smiles :-). Nice job novices! You are discovering the joy of rowing...after discovering that it is not as easy as it looks.

Looking forward to the next Learn to Row group tomorrow morning at 9:00. Fingers crossed for the weather to hold out for us...

Our first 2015 Learn to Row class locked their oars in for the first time and took to the water Saturday. And what BEAUTIFUL water it was! Smooth-as-glass, perfect rowing conditions. We divided the group and took the Blue Fins out in the boat first, while the Silver Fins got some great dry-land rowing technique instruction. The groups switched and then we did it all over again. 

We have a dedicated coxswain in this class who will be learning the ropes, and then learning how to cox. What the heck is a cox? Check it out here. If you would like to try it, just let us know!

A big Thank You to all our volunteers who make this happen, and a big shout out to the first Learn-to-Rowers of the season....They did a great job today! We'll see them again this Monday evening at 7:00 OR Tuesday morning at 8:00.

Looking forward to the next group of students for next Saturday's Learn to Row startup.

The rowing season in Marquette is on for the Upper Peninsula Community Rowing Club! Our Interest meeting was Tuesday June 2nd, and we had a nice turnout...Especially for the youth division! Our Orientation Day was Tuesday June 9th where we all did our swim test, watched the safety video, got coached on the ergs (rowing machines), did the lift/carry test, and had a great time. Everyone cycled through smoothly and efficiently thanks to our wonderful volunteers!

Looking forward to the first Learn to Row session this Saturday from 9:00-1:00. If you are interested in joining the class, there is still time. There will be another class Saturday June 20th from 9:00-1:00.

Let the season begin!