Texas Rowing Center Wins Gold at US Masters
August 24, 2003
Go Texas Rowing Center!

Competing for the first time as a team, the four-man crew from Texas Rowing Center made a stellar debut at the 2003 U.S. Masters National Championships in Sacramento, California. The crew, comprised of Jason Savage, Ronan O’Connor, Ken Gates, and Matt Knifton, won five medals, two gold and three silver, in only four events. The Masters Nationals is one of the largest regattas in North America and determines the rowing national champions for all age groups from ages 22 to over 80. All races are 1,000 meters in length.

This year’s championships drew more than 1,000 competitors from all over the United States and Canada. But it was the small racing team from Texas Rowing Center that completely dominated the team boat sculling events in the B classification (ages 36 to 42), winning the national championship in the quadruple sculls, as well as gold (Knifton and Savage) and silver (O’Connor and Gates) in the double sculls event. Texas Rowing’s first victory came in the quad race in which the foursome soundly defeated five other boats, including a boat with Xeno Mueller, the 1996 Olympic Champion and 2000 Olympic Silver-Medalist. The one-two finish by Texas Rowing in the double sculls was the only such finish by a single team in the over 100 events at Masters Nationals this year.

Despite competing against much younger competition, the Texas Rowing Center squad also won silver medals in both of the team-boat sculling events in the A classification (ages 27 to 35). The crew took silver in the quadruple sculls, just getting edged out by a crew of U.S. National Team candidates from the California Rowing Association, and the Knifton/Savage double took the silver medal in that event.

While the team’s victories were impressive, the success was not a surprise to Jason: “We practiced very hard in the weeks leading up to Masters Nationals, and rowing against each other on a daily basis really prepared us well. Matt and I knew that if we could beat Ronan and Ken in practice, then we could probably beat the other doubles at Masters Nationals, which turned out to be the case.” Ronan concurred: “We were our own toughest competition.”

And according to Matt, expectations will be even greater for next year’s team competing at the national championships in Oakridge, Tennessee: “This was a great debut for Texas Rowing, but I expect that our club will have at least three times as many competitors next year. One of my main goals this year is to spark interest in competitive rowing in our members, and ultimately to create the best masters rowing program in the country. At some point in the future, Texas Rowing Center will win the club points trophy at Masters Nationals.” Ken, probably the strongest rower in the country over 40 years of age, summed the event up best: “The four of us really enjoy each other’s company. We had a great time training as a team and competing as a team, which is really what masters rowing is all about.”

Anyone interested in rowing competitively should contact Matt or Ronan to discuss boat placement and training programs.