Lake Lanier for ACRA National Championships

The weekend of May 25-27, I flew to Georgia to watch my boyfriend compete for Boston College at their first ever showing at the American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championships!

The Boston College Varsity 8+ is the far boat, pictured here in they repechage holding off MSU in efforts to advance to the Grand Final. Their were some unfortunate summer boaters out at this time waking out the BC 8+ in the outside lane just 10 meters before their bow crossed the finish line.  The wake unfortunately affected the outcome of the race- leading to a protest which resulted in a 9 boat Grand Final!

The ACRA National Championships were held at the 1996 Olympic Venue, Lake Lanier in Gainesville, GA. 

The course was gorgeous, still fully equipped with structures built for the '96 Olympics. It was incredible to watch the guys race where olympians once did, striving for a Gold Medal.

This shot was taken from the bridge as the guys were headed up the course on their warm-up before the Grand Final!

What a surprise this was! My best friend from when I attended the University of Alabama was in town for the summer doing an internship at NASCAR. She came down to the course for the weekend to watch races with me! It was so good to see her and spend time together again! 

Here is another shot of the guys from their weekend of racing. My boyfriend, Sean, raced in stroke seat. (the first person in front of the coxswain)

Here Sean and I are after the Grand Final. Since the BC Varsity 8+ protested the results in the repechage, the 9th lane was added last minute to the course and unfortunately was without a stake boat holder. Starting with a floating start as opposed to all other crews who were locked onto stake boats was quite a disadvantage, but the guys persevered and fought their way down the course. 

Here is the entire team at Lake Lanier, once racing was done- everyone was finally headed home for the summer after one of their best seasons to date.