Newsletters

Fall term recap

We had a great fall season starting with a big push for recruitment. We have a big enough men's team to fill an 8 and more which is a milestone for our collegiate team. We got a small taste of a regatta hosted locally by our friends at Lewis and Clarke and completed a mini ergathon with some masters teammates at LOCR. Winter conditioning has begun and we love to see y’all putting in the effort on the erg and in the gym. Thank you for respecting and uplifting your teammates, working hard, and making this team what it is! Keep pushing yourselves to grow and gain more rowing knowledge and experience.

One-on-one check ins

Please keep your eye on Slack for a message from leadership. One of us will set up a short check-in meeting with you to see how your Fall season went and what your Winter goals are.

Winter Term practice officially starts on Monday 1/8/2024 at 5:45AM. 

Winter is for erging, lifting weights, improving body mechanics and developing flexibility :)

WINTER TERM PRACTICE TIMES 

Season: 1/8/2024 - 3/16/2024 (No practice on MLK day)

Monday 5:45AM - 7AM

Wednesday 5:45AM - 7AM

Saturday 10AM - 12:30PM

(Optional/Make-up) Friday 5:45AM - 7AM

(Optional/Make-up) Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 - 10:30 AM 

Note about December: If you pay your winter term dues now, you may come to December practice starting on the 11th. Practices are MWF from 5:45 AM - 7:00 AM, 7:30 AM - 9 AM or T/Thr 9:30AM - 10:30AM. You must DM Kyle on Slack to be enrolled in iCREW to join practice.

Student Dues must be paid prior to first practice !!!!! Pay Here

If you have remaining balance on your fall term dues, those must be paid first

Winter Season Dues (1 payment): $245 Full price | With PSU subsidy(if eligible): $98 

PSU students: Discount code will be given on an individual basis to eligible rowers - check DMs

If you need to make arrangements or inquire about possible sponsorship (PCC students), contact Shawn.

Spring break training camp 3/25 - 3/29 

This is a vital training camp for us to step up our technical skills for the racing season. KEEP YOUR CALENDAR OPEN

We are recruiting again in winter 

We need a bigger women’s team & more coxswains!!! Tell your friends, spread the word. (General recruitment is open, we welcome anyone interested in joining) :)

Social 

This Sunday, December 10th we will be doing a team hike. Check Slack for updates & planning

Do you want to be in Leadership?

Contact Shawn. Leadership pathway: 1 semester on leadership → 1 semester on Chair position → eligible to be nominated for captain

Do you want a job? ($18 - $22/hr)

LOCR is hiring a Part-Time administrative assistant. Please send Shawn your Resume and/or ask for more details. 

Hi Team,

We have some events coming up so mark your calendars if you haven’t already!

Volunteer Event

This Sunday November 12th, we will be having a warehouse cleaning party from 9:30am to 1:30pm!! After Sunday’s practice, we will be going to the warehouse to do a variety of cleaning activities. (The event may end earlier than 1:30 and you are not required to stay for the whole thing, but keep in mind you need 4 hours of volunteering with LOCR per term). Come get your volunteer hours and hang out with the team! Not only is this volunteering but it’s also a social :)

Plan to bring a change of clothes and something to eat! If you are able to, bring some shareable snack stuff.

Mini Ergathon (Erg Regatta)

Sunday, November 19th 6:30am -9am with a potluck afterwards till about 10:30am. This includes your normal required practice time, just starting 30 min earlier. The ergathon is a great teamwork experience full of fun sprint pieces! In teams of about 8 combining with the masters, we will be doing a 20k ergathon. In the winter season, LOCR will be hosting their annual ergathon fundraiser event which is either a 50k or 100k ergathon!

How an ergathon works: every 500m (about 2 min) we do a fast switch between rowers and cycle through the team. People will be holding the foot straps in place as we cycle through to avoid wasting time strapping in. (We’ll practice this beforehand). Effort is 100%, no rate cap since you get breaks in between. Remember your 500m split time? That’s what you’ll be shooting for each piece for the duration of the ergathon :)

Sign up for a potluck item here

Google Photos Album

Keep adding any photos/ videos you’ve taken of the team :)

Appreciation Blog/ Rower Mentions

*nominated by leadership members

Emily Swanberg- Emily has been showing up ready to learn and work every day and it shows! Not to mention she puts in the extra effort to show support to her teammates in and out of practice. She’s putting in the effort to herself and the team!

Cameron- Cameron always  shows up to practice with a good attitude. He knows how to lighten the mood, but also when it’s time to work. Cameron is integral to the boat dynamic.

Harrison - Harrison encourages his teammates to do extra cool guy workouts to build some fitness accountability within the team. Join him for some workouts if you can!

Julian - Julian is always smiling and positive on the dock in the morning 

Meno - Meno is focused on the erg and committed to getting that split lower each workout! 

If your name hasn’t been mentioned yet, keep putting in the work for yourself and your teammates and it will be noticeable to those around you :) You are all important parts of this team and we value the effort you put into improving your fitness, technique, and building a community with your teammates.

Upcoming Payment #2 Due by November 30th

Here is the payment link if you wish to pay now. 

If you are a PSU student please use the PSU discount code “PSU2”. This factors in your PSU subsidy. 

If you are a PCC student please use the PCC discount code “PCC2”. Discount courtesy of the LOCR community. 

Keep up the hard work with practices and extra workouts, and good luck with all your busy school things. You’ve got this!

Best,

Your Portland Collegiate Rowing leadership team

Contacts

Head Coach: Kyle Pepin - Slack

Program Director: Shawn Chang - Slack or shawn.chang@lorowing.com

Assistant Program Director: Bucky Mecham - Slack

Men’s Team Captain: Kacey Larson - Slack or text (509)850-2479

Women’s Team Captain and PSU pres: Natalie Kosmos - Slack or nkosmos@pdx.edu 

Congratulations, You are on the team!

You are officially committed to being a college athlete and a collegiate rower. Next steps: we will be opening links to pay your dues, taking roster photos (you can opt out of the photo) and finalizing race lineups for the Charlie Brown Regatta.

Stay around after Sunday’s Practice to get your roster photo taken.

Training Camp: This saturday 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM. Meet at the warehouse by 9:30.

This is considered a normal practice which means the normal attendance policies apply. This will be a great opportunity for everyone to continue developing their rowing skills and working as a team to get the boats moving more in sync. 

Carpool leaves at 9:00 AM, please check Slack for details

Swim Test: this Sunday 12pm - 1pm at Lake Oswego high school swimming pool

The swim test is mandatory for everyone, as it assures us that you will be safe in the event of a flipped rowing shell or an accident. The test consists of 10 minutes of water treading as well as making sure you know how to put on a life vest while treading water. Please bring a swimsuit, towel and a change of clothes (slides are highly recommended).

If you cannot make the swim test, you must complete this on your own time within one week! This can be done at the PSU or PCC swimming pool or a community pool with a certified lifeguard present. Print out a Swim Test Form, take it with you, and ask a lifeguard to conduct a swim test for you. They must sign off on the form. If you have not completed the swim test by October 22nd, you will not be allowed on the water during practice until it is completed.

Swim Test Location: Lake Oswego High School Swimming Pool

Time:  Sunday 10/15, 11:30am carpool as available, 12pm start

Sunday Practice 10/15 

Practice is from 7-9am. After practice and before the swim test, you may choose to stay in the area until the swim test. This may make carpooling/ transit easier. Transit plans TBD. If you choose to stay after practice, please bring your homework or something to do and we will be hanging out at Peets Coffee in Lake Oswego.

WORKOUTS: Do ‘em! We have a 5k race coming up….

(post your workout to the #collegiate-workout channel)

We will continue coordinating workouts as often as we can. Please use Slack to plan your own workouts/ meetups at the gym as well. Here are some erg workout options:

2 x 12 min with 3 min rest, stroke rate 20 and 22 (please don’t go higher than this) 90 - 95% effort

5 x 1k intervals w/ no rest (no fully stopping, continuous rowing for 5000m). You can also just put 5000m in your monitor. See below for details.

1k at 22 spm 75% effort

1k light row/ paddle

1k at 24 spm 85% effort

1k light row/ paddle

1k at 26 spm 95% effort

4x 5min w/ 3min rest. 26 stroke rate, 95% effort

3x 8min w/  2min rest. Reference the workout details from Natalie’s slack message in #collegiate-workouts from October 4th

Collegiate dues 

We will be getting the payment portal up and running soon > Due dates TBA. With a big team this year, PSU is able to generously cover 50% of PSU student dues. Your responsibility will be to pay $206 for Fall term rowing, split into two payments of $103.

PCC students owe a discounted $312 for Fall term rowing, split into two payments of $156 

Keep in mind that your dues cover so much!!! They include Kyle’s invaluable time spent coaching our team, access to the boathouse and equipment, access to extra practices and workouts, and training camps. On top of that, you have a volunteer-based leadership team that works tirelessly to provide you access to the sport. Take advantage of everything LOCR has to offer!

See you at camp!

Contacts 

Head Coach: Kyle Pepin - Slack

Program Director: Shawn Chang - Slack or shawn.chang@lorowing.com

Women’s Team Captain and PSU pres: Natalie Kosmos - Slack or nkosmos@pdx.edu

Men’s Team Captain: Kacey Larson - Slack 

Assistant Program Director: Bucky Mecham - Slack

Pre-Season Newsletter!

Get ready for a new season of rowing!

Interested in rowing? Join the team for our 2023-2024 season

Never too late to start rowing -  Visit our website to get started

(Only new rowers need to fill out the recruitment form)

If you know a friend interested, please either forward this email to them or ask them to contact collegiate@lorowing.com

Rebranding

We are now Portland Collegiate Rowing! This title is shorter and suits our needs as a combined collegiate program offered under Lake Oswego Community Rowing (LOCR) with both PSU and PCC students.

New Program, New Goal!

We want to go to WIRA (Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association) this program year, this is the big big regatta championship we'll be shooting for in 2024 Spring. Get Hyped!

A word from your head coach: It’s time to continue building our team and start competing more! Our Varsity Rowers know what it takes to go the extra mile. Our Novice Rowers will have an amazing support system and training program to get the swing of things. And Our Program is ready to train to win. - Coach Sam 

Fall Season Info

—

!!SAVE THESE DATES IN YOUR CALENDAR!!

Season goes from 9/28 Thursday to 11/30 Thursday

Training camp: 10/07 and 10/14, Time TBA

Swim Test: 10/15 12 - 1 pm

Regattas 10/28 and 10/29

— 

New Practice Times

Tuesday 6:05 -7:35am

Thursday 6:05 -7:35am

Sunday 7:00 -8:35am

Bus Schedule here

Planned Socials

Team park picnic

Team camping

Team movie nights

Team craft nights / cookie decorating / gift exchange

Recruitment Volunteering - WE NEED HELP!!!

We will be participating in both of PSU’s biggest recruiting events during the first week of school. These are Night at the Rec on September 26th from 7pm-9pm and Party in the Park on September 28th from 11am-2pm. We will need your help with set-up, event engagement, and take-down. 

Additionally, we will be tabling outside on campus between Smith and Cramer from 12:00pm to 2:15pm on all of these dates: 9/26, 9/27, 9/29, 10/3, 10/5, 10/6. For all recruitment events we need at least one PSU student at the table at all times!! 

Recruitment events are the easiest way to get your volunteer hours for Fall term! Get those sooner rather than later. The updated requirement is 4 hours of club-related volunteering per school term (12 total for Fall, Winter, & Spring).

Contact Shawn Chang to volunteer (both new, past and existing rowers)

Summer Workout Plan

Fall season is fast approaching! If you haven’t been working out during the summer, now’s the time to get back in shape :) Fall term is 5k season, meaning longer pieces & more endurance. If you have access to an erg, a pre-made 5k workout plan is attached below for you to reference. If you don’t have erg access, do endurance body-weight workouts, running, biking, swimming, etc. To encourage your teammates and hold yourself accountable, add your workouts to our team Workout Log

Looking forward to seeing you all soon, go team!

Your Portland Collegiate Rowing Team

Contact us at collegiate@lorowing.com for questions or comments