SEATTLE — Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association rowers Elise Beuke and Aubree Officer are two for two.
Beuke, a senior at Sequim High School, and Officer, a senior at Port Angeles High School, pulled to a commanding win in the Women’s Junior 2x race at the Tail of the Lake Regatta on Lake Union.
“We said that before we went that we need to be confident, because you do better when you’re confident,” Officer said following Sunday’s race.
“We didn’t know we’re going to kick butt like that.”
Officer and Beuke won the junior double race by nearly 15 seconds over crews from Seattle Rowing Center, Holy Names Academy, Olympia and Vashon Island.
Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association president John Halberg said those clubs have histories of national success.
Beuke, the stroke, and Officer, the bow, finished the 4-kilometer race in 16 minutes, 43.9 seconds. Their nearest competitor, one of Seattle Rowing Center’s crews, came in with a time of 16:58.4.
The area duo also took first at their only other race, the B.C. Championships near Victoria during the summer.
“We knew that there was going to be harder teams here than at our last race,” Beuke said.
“We didn’t really worry about the other teams as much, just worried about our own race.”
Sunday’s 4K race was the longest Officer and Beuke have competed in. It also posed an unfamiliar challenge: sharp turns.
The area crew used a different method for the three left turns.
Instead of leaving their right-side oars in the water, they flipped them twice so the curved lip of the blade was pointing up and hovering over the water while they pulled with their left-side oars.
Beuke said this tactic, which she and Officer first worked on last week, is more efficient but tricky to pull off.
“It really benefitted us,” Beuke said. “I think that where we gained time on, our turns.”
The crews raced in a time-trial-like format, with won crew beginning every 15 seconds.
Lake Union offered spectators, including Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association coach Rodrigo Rodrigues, a view of the entire course, an uncommon occurrence in rowing.
“I had binoculars so I could follow them everywhere,” Rodrigues said of Officer and Beuke. “You can see a little bit, see they were overtaking [other boats], making me really proud.”
Beuke credited Rodrigues for the duo’s quick success.
“I think that it’s our training. I think it’s definitely our coach, Rodrigo,” Beuke said.
“He holds us to a very high standard, technique-wise and physically.”
After their race was over, Beuke and Officer returned to the boathouse while Rodrigues and their fathers, Todd Beuke and Eldon Officer, waited for the results.
“We were pretty excited,” Beuke said of when she and Officer were told of their win. “We screamed and danced and hugged.”
Rodrigues enjoys seeing his rowers’ hard work pay off. Beuke and Officer lift weights every morning and then row with Rodrigues after school six times a week.
“That’s what I like, that’s what I work for, to have them happy have them succeeding,” Rodrigues said.
“I know we had to work hard to be happy. If you fail in practice, you fail in the race.”
Rodrigues said that a coach from the University of Washington’s women’s rowing program stopped by the boathouse to congratulate Officer and Beuke.
“He said, ‘I was there to watch you guys,’” Rodrigues said. “He was only there [at the race] to watch them.”
Beuke and Officer will return to Lake Union on Nov. 2 for the Head of the Lake Regatta, which is hosted by the University of Washington.
Rowers sought
Rodrigues, who is wrapping up his second year as the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association’s coach, wants to build a bigger rowing program.
To do that, the association need more rowers.
“It’s kind of hard to have just a few kids,” he said.
For more information, stop by the association’s boathouse on Ediz Hook or visit www.oprarowing.org/home.
