The Back Channel
September 2025
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Leaders, on and off the water....
In This Month's Issue...
In This Month's Issue...
In This Month's Issue:
Community Updates
Meet our New Staff!
Dragon Boat Updates
Volunteer Radar
Community Updates
The fall weather has arrived in Pittsburgh and our TRRA community made every effort to squeeze out all of the summer programming we could during the last few weeks of August. Here of some of our end of summer highlights:
The Special Olympics Rowing finished its third season at TRRA this past August. TRRA was proud to partner with Special Olympics to offer a 6-week rowing program this summer! Approximately 12 athletes had the opportunity to get on the water and learn rowing in the barge, singles and doubles! Each week, the athletes improved their skills with several athletes have expressing interest in joining our Adaptive rowing team and possibly rowing at HOTO! It was a fun session and a huge thank you to all our TRRA volunteers who made this possible!!
A New Safety Launch was Dedicated: Both the Adaptive Rowers and those with the Special Olympics program participated in the dedication of the new launch purchased for these programs through the generosity of Dick’s Sporting Goods. Matt Logue and a representative from Dick’s each spoke to the group followed by the “christening” of Crews Control. Representatives from Dick’s Sporting Goods then enjoyed a ride on the new launch to watch the athletes in action and view Pittsburgh from a different vantage point.
Onward Seniors: On August 28th TRRA participated in this Community Day at Highland Park for those age 55 and over. Through the help of multiple volunteers, we had the TRRA tent set up along with an erg and a dragon to inform rowers and paddlers of the opportunities at our facilities.
Upcoming Events:
Saturday, September 20th - Launch Driving & Water Rescue Training: TRRA is coordinating a Launch Driving and Water Rescue Training event for all coaches, volunteer launch drivers and those looking to learn to drive launches. We are partnering with several emergency service organizations for this event that will take place on Saturday, September 20th, from 12 - 3pm at our Washington's Landing location. If you would like to join us for this training session, please complete this RSVP Form.
Head of the Ohio, October 4-5, 2025:
HOTO 2025 is right around the corner and we are anticipating an exciting 2 days of racing. We are still in need of volunteers for pre-race set-up and race days. To increase the efficiency of our racers and volunteers, we are asking Adult and Collegiate rowers to volunteer on Sunday and Youth athletes and families to volunteer on Saturday. This will allow everyone to enjoy their race day! Please sign-up to volunteer through the link below and then check out the volunteer handbook on the website to further understand your volunteer job responsibilities.NOTE: You do not need to be an athlete or member to volunteer at HOTO so if you would like to share the sign-up with your networks, please feel free!
TRRA's 40th Anniversary Celebration, November 8, 2025:
Mark your calendars for this being held event on November 8th at 7:00PM at Washington’s Landing Boathouse. A VIP Champagne reception will be held at 6:00PM More details to follow next month but the theme of Give Back to the Future with a tour of the history of TRRA, food and drink, special member recognition and mingling with generations of rowers and paddlers promises a fun evening! Get your tickets HERE!
We hope everyone enjoys the start of the fall season and we look forward to seeing you on the water with us soon!
Meet our New Staff!
TRRA is thrilled to welcome new staff members to our Operations Team and our Coaching Staff this fall! These individuals are going to help expand our reach and impact, both on and off the water, and join our community with a high level of passion and commitment to the mission of TRRA.
Meet the New Members of our Operations Team!:
Cara Burns, a TRRA alumni and recent graduate of Iowa University, joins our OpsTeam as our Marketing & Communications Manager. In this part-time role, Cara will lead the messaging, branding and communications of TRRA including social media communications. In addition to her OpsTeam role, Cara is also joining our Three Rivers Youth Rowing staff and continuing to coach our Summer Rowing League program through the end of the season.
Xan Janik is an Operations VISTA for TRRA via Americorps, helping to fill the role of Volunteer Coordinator. From beautiful Western North Carolina and southern Appalachia, Xan uses they/them pronouns and identifies as non-binary. Xan graduated from Warren Wilson College in 2018 and afterwards worked there as a work program supervisor for a couple years, helping to take care of their community and mentor college students. Having moved to Pittsburgh late last year, Xan immediately fell in love with the place, and has made it their home. Even though Xan has no previous rowing experience, they love community and value teamwork, and are excited to work again for an organization that holds these same interests and values in as high of a regard. Xan is excited to work with TRRA’s great team of staff and volunteers, and to work to build TRRA’s capacity!
Aodhán Ridenour is a writer and Pittsburgh native who grew up in Observatory Hill. His parents met on the rowing team at Pitt in the mid 80's and he rowed at North Allegheny for 4-years in high school. He recently graduated from Slippery Rock University and is excited to serve as the Development & Communications AmeriCorps VISTA.
Alana Newman has finished her VISTA term at TRRA and is continuing to work with us in a part-time capacity on the Development team.
Meet the new members of our Coaching Staff!:
Matthew Houser joins TRRA as the Head Coach for Adaptive & Para Rowing. Matthew comes to TRRA from Cleveland where he was most recently coaching at The Foundry and Cleveland State College. Matthew is USRowing Level 3 Coach, a USRowing Referee and has extensive experience as a rower and coach. In addition to leading our Adaptive & Para programs, Matthew is also the lead coach for the TRRA Mid-Morning team.
Grace Kennevan joins our coaching staff and will be assisting with several programs this fall including TRYR, SRL and A-Team. Grace is completing her final semester at Duquesne University and has many years of youth and adult coaching experience at her hometown club in Camden, NJ.
Jill Peters re-joins our TRYR coaching staff this fall and we are thrilled to have her back in a launch with us. Jill is completing graduate school at Duquesne University where for the last 2 years, she was the graduate assistant coach for the Duquesne Rowing program.
Our new OpsTeam and Coaching Staff members will be around our campuses daily throughout the fall so be on the lookout and help welcome them to our TRRA community!
Dragon Boat Updates
Hearts of Steel:
September is here! Finally, it's time for the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival on September 27th at North Park Lake! Here are the details:
Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival
Saturday, September 27, 2025
North Park Lake (near Over the Bar restaurant)
Join us for an exciting day of racing and celebration in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness!
Hearts of Steel will also be racing on September 6th at AJ Jolly Park in Alexandria, Kentucky. This festival is very special to our team since the Kentucky Thorough-Breasts helped Hearts of Steel become a team in 2017!
The Duck Race is back! We welcome the return of the Duck Race in 2025. The race will be held on October 25th, with a rain date on October 26th. Here is the link to purchase your lucky duck winners. The first place prize is $500, the second place prize is $400, and the third place prize is $300.
Duck Race for Breast Cancer Awareness | Pittsburgh Hearts of Steel
Thank you for supporting Hearts of Steel—together, we paddle stronger!
Volunteer Radar
September Volunteer Opportunities @ TRRA:
Thursday, September 18, 11am - 2pm, Boathouse Day: Join TRRA staff as we tackle a series of small projects around Washington's Landing to keep our equipment and facilities in good working order! Tasks will be shared prior to the event.
Saturday, September 27, 10:30am - 1pm, Washington's Landing Grounds Work: Join as we work to clean up our grounds in preparation for HOTO 2025!
On-Going & Future Volunteer Opportunities:
Head of the Ohio: Volunteer Sign-Up for the 2025 Head of the Ohio is now LIVE! To help maximize the race experience for our entire TRRA community, we are asking that Adult Rowers sign up to volunteer on Sunday and Youth athletes and families sign up to volunteer on Saturday - this way everyone can focus completely on their races each race day. If people are able and willing to sign up for more, we gladly welcome the support! Be sure to check out the Volunteer Handbook on the website which outlines the roles and responsibilities for each volunteer position throughout the weekend.
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