The 2012 Scott Laio Memorial Golf Tournament and Alumni Weekend will be held on Friday, September 21 and Saturday, September 22, 2012. Come join us for this 5th Annual weekend in Boston and reconnect with former rowers and meet the current team!

This past winter, with the support of many friends and BC Crew Alumni, CHillRA raised over $7,500 during its first ever dedicated Fundraising Campaign, which will be used to help ensure that the team has the coaches and equipment it needs to remain competitive with the top schools in its league. Through your continued generous support, CHillRA has been able to raise more money each year since it was founded in 2008, a trend which we know will continue through ever increasing involvement of the friends and alumni of this program.

Please remember that you can support CHillRA at any time by going to www.chillra.org and clicking on 'Support CHillRA!' link on the left-hand side.

It's 4 weeks into the Spring racing season, and the BC Men's Crew team has showed some impressive and encouraging results heading into the season-ending championships.  The team began the season at the Jesuit Invitational Regatta, the annual race hosted by St. Joe's on the Cooper River in Camden.  The first Varsity 8 finished in third behind Georgetown and St. Joe's, while the Varisty 4+ took second in a 5-boat race, finishing 8 seconds behind Loyola.  The first Freshman 8 finished a close second behind Georgetown's Heavyweight Frosh, while the second Frosh 8 won its race against Georgetown.

Two weeks later, the team traveled down to Kingston, RI to race against the University of Rhode Island and the University of New Hampshire.  Despite the strong cross winds, BC won the Varsity 4+ event by nearly 10 seconds.  The Varsity 8, despite a strong race, finished 3rd behind UNH and URI.  The Freshman squad dominated their competitors.  In a race that pitted the first and second BC Frosh 8s against the first Frosh 8s of URI and UNH, BC's first 8 bested both the URI and UNH boats by 10 seconds, with the second BC 8 finishing 10 seconds behind URI and UNH.  BC also took the Frosh 4+ race by over 20 seconds over URI with UNH a distant 3rd.  The day of racing in Rhode Island confirmed the speed and depth of the Freshman team this year.
 
On April 8th the team traveled back to the Cooper River to participate in the annual Knecht Cup.  The regatta, which features dozens of collegiate teams from across the Eastern U.S., has never yielded much success for the Men's team.  The Varsity 8+ finished 4th in their heat and ulitmately took 5th in the Third Level Final.  The first Varsity 4+ saw more success, placing 2nd in their heat and finishing 4th the next day in the Grand Final of the 21-boat event.  The second Varsity 4+ took the gold against 7 boats in their event, beating out 2nd place UMass by just over 1 second.  In the Club 4+ event, BC placed 2nd in their heat on Saturday and took the Bronze in the Grand Final the next day, behind George Mason and UMass. 
 
The Novice team continued its early season success at the Knecht, winning gold in the second Frosh 8 by 9 seconds over 2nd place North Carolina and 3rd place Rutgers.  The first Frosh 8 faced a daunting race against 24 boats.  After beating Trinity by .01 seconds to win their heat, the BC Freshman took 2nd in their Semi behind Drexel.  Drexel won the Grand Final the next day, with BC taking silver, 3 seconds back, ahead of Bucknell and then Trinity, 4th.  The 2nd place finish was BC's best showing in the 1st Frosh race since 2002, when the Frosh team won silver as well. 
 
This weekend the team will stay on the Charles with a dual race against MIT.  Then the team tests out the course at Lake Quinsigamond against WPI and UMass the following week.  This year New England's is April 30 on Lake Quinsigamond, with the ECAC Championships on May 8 at the same course.
 
CHillRA wishes the team the best of luck for the rest of the season.  Links to the racing results described above can be found below.
 
http://row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=9871333&cat=5
http://row2k.com/results/resultspage.cfm?UID=2841444&cat=1
http://www.villanovarowing.com/knecht/realtimeResults.html

16 of the men's team rowers competed in the annual Crash-B indoor rowing championships in Boston, MA on February 20, 2011.  The results are below.

To the Friends of Boston College Crew,

Over the last two decades, the Boston College Men's Crew team has grown in size, maturity and stature while providing students the opportunity to challenge themselves outside of the classroom and experience a level of competitiveness that is often difficult to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it for themselves. While it would seem logical that the demanding practice schedules and extensive travel would have a detrimental impact on the academic success of these students, the evidence clearly shows that the discipline that is developed through the sport yields academic fortitude that prepares these young men and women for successful post-graduate studies and professional careers. Now, we are asking for your help to help make sure that these opportunities continue to be made available to future classes of Boston College students.

CHillRA was originally formed in 2008 to help solve a dire need to find a Varsity coach for the Men's team. This search is often difficult given that the position is treated as a part-time position from a compensation perspective, though it is anything but one. Since then, with a few great coaches and a bit of luck, the team has continued to represent BC at all of the major regattas without interruption. Luck however is not part of a sustainable strategy for attracting and retaining the coaching talent that these students should expect to have. In 2010, as a result ofs the fundraising efforts from the Scott Laio Memorial Golf Tournaments, CHillRA has now begun to subsidize the coaching salaries of the Head Varsity and Novice coaches. Although we still have quite a way to go as far as total compensation goes, the fact that we now have an arrangement that is supported by Boston College, the coaches and CHillRA is a big step towards our goal of being able to adequately fund the coaching positions on a continuing basis.

This inaugural fundraising campaign is CHillRA’s first effort at raising money to specifically fund the salaries of the Men’s coaches. Our goal is to raise $10,000 by January 31st, 2011, which will ensure that the subsidy in place for the 2010-2011 season is not only continued but increased in the following term. Our plan is to have one fundraising campaign each year around this time that will support these two coaching positions. We are asking for your help now.

We recently launched a new website, www.chillra.org that includes the ability to donate directly to this campaign online by clicking on 'Support CHillRA!' in the menu box on the upper left-hand side of the page. The new site contains updates on the team, more details about CHillRA and a forum for discussion on various topics about the team and CHillRA.

If you are able to donate now, please click here: 2010 CHillRA Annual Appeal

Please note that CHillRA is a registered 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible and may be eligible for corporate matching gift programs.

Thank you again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the races this spring.

Doyle Hunt '05
President - Chestnut Hill Rowing Association

The third installment of the Scott Laio Memorial Golf Tournament saw a venue change to the Newton Commonwealth Golf Course, conveniently located less than a mile from BC's campus.  Despite a steady drizzle throughout the morning, the golfers (and a few die hard fans) were out in full force.  Current rowers, alumni, family and friends of Scott, coaches, crew parents, and others gathered in hopes of being the victorious foursome.

For many, that dream ended after their first tee shot, but for two foursomes, a rivalry was renewed.  As playoff baseball approached, it was fitting that an upstate New Yorkers foursome (comprised of Scott's relatives) and a Boston based foursome (comprised of MJ Curry and friends) battled until the final holes.  Led by a hole-in-one on the 168 yard Par 3 12th hole by Scott's Uncle, Larry Senour, the upstate New York foursome emerged victorious and gained bragging rights until at least next fall.

Unfortunately for Senour, the closest to the pin contest was taking place on the 129 yard par 3 4th hole.  While he didn't record an ace, Matt Kleber '09, claimed the honor of closest to the pin.  Across the course, the 451 yard par 5 15th hole served as the measuring stick for longest drive.  In the ladies division, crew mom Barbara Downey, took the crown, while on the men's side, Mike Murphy '07 outdrove everybody to take the title.

2010 marked the first year of the "Beginners Scorecard," a brainchild of photographer extraordinaire and class of 2005 rower, Ned Borgman.  With categories such as most lost balls and biggest divot, everybody had a chance to feel the thrill of victory.  In a feat that may never be matched, Kleber won the Most Lost Balls title in the same year as his Closest to the Pin award.  Playing in the same foursome, and much to the disappointment of their teammates, Will Downey '05 edged out Greg Wiles '06 for biggest divot.

The weekend festivities continued later that night as many of the same faces, as well as new ones, gathered at the Parker Boathouse along the Charles for a CHillRa sponsored event.  The highlight of the evening was the dedication of the program's newest racing shell: a Vespoli M2 8+, fittingly named in honor of Scott Laio.  Head Coach Geordie Coffin spoke and had the honor of christening the boat with a bottle of champagne. The night continued as good times were shared over dinner and drinks, accompanied by live music and spirited debates of which year's crew is the greatest of all time.

The next morning, a tradition (officially) began with a few short pieces between the current rowers and three boats of willing alumni.  No clear winner was declared and everybody got off the water claiming victory.  A barbecue followed, allowing rowers, past and present, to mingle and share stories of Charles River glory.

The 2010 installment of the Scott Laio Memorial Golf Tournament and weekend was a great success and everybody is surely looking forward to next year!