The crew team has just moved into a new boathouse and is anticipating a productive and victorious spring season.

The boathouse, officially named “Valhalla” (the mead hall in Norse mythology where Viking warriors who died in combat went to rest) has been a project that head coach Jay Hammond has focused on for the last couple of years. 

The boathouse is located in Hazelwood off of Blair Street at the site of an old steel mill. The team has a boat shed with docks that are made by members of the team themselves attached to a captive barge. 

Following the crew team’s appearance at the Youth Nationals Tournament last year in Sarasota, FL, the squad hopes that their new boathouse will help them achieve more fitness and ultimately translate into a successful winning season.

Every day after school, members of the crew team run around 3.7 miles from school down to the boathouse to get to practice. The varsity squad frequently runs back when practice is done.

The crew team previously rowed out of Three Rivers’ boathouse located in Millvale. The switch to the new boathouse presented a lot of challenges for the team starting out.

For instance, the team does not have as many amenities they had at Millvale, such as electricity or heat. They developed creative ways to get by – like transportable generators, flashlights for light, and space heaters.

The team has its first race on April 2nd at Noxontown in Delaware. They are hopeful to bring home a victory but are facing powerhouse teams with far superior resources, money, and numbers – such as Lawrenceville School, the most expensive high school with boarding tuition of $73,220 and an endowment of $632.9 million.

Central rowers bridge the gap with their toughness and determination to win. The team’s season lasts until June, when they will compete again at Youth Nationals.