The OARS Invitational was underway on March 8th and 9th at Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake. The weather was
nice but windy, which affected the water quality for the races. They welcomed 25+ teams from all across Flordia and Georgia, and over 1,500 rowers, including many WOHS students, came row in the youth, middle school, and masters portions of this regatta.
The high school teams took the 1.5k course while middle school & masters teams would take the 1k course with races starting every 7 minutes so there was always a race to watch and cheer on. There was heavy competition and lots of wins for many of the teams. Whether they were on the water or land teams, they were always congratulating each other and always jumping at the opportunity to say hi to different teams, with some even getting to see old teammates and coaches. One student says, “I just liked seeing how everyone was just 1 big team and how most teams were congratulating their opponents after races! And the Kona Ice of course.” Some of the OARS high school team even showed up bright and early Sunday to cheer on coaches, parents, and the middle schoolers as they went down the course. Many also came to volunteer and help run the amazing regatta. Everywhere you looked there were rowers, coaches, and parents helping out or cheering on boats coming down the race course.
The OARS high school crew took home multiple 1st places such as the Men’s Youth 3rd V 8+ & the Woman’s Ltwt
8+. The middle school team took home 1st in multiple races as well such as Middle School Boys 2x & Middle School Girls 4x. The masters’ team took home 1st in multiple races as well such as Men’s Masters 1x & Men’s Masters 2x. In the end, the OARS high school team ended up taking home the girls & boys as well as the team’s all-points trophies. All in all it was great weekend of racing, cheering, and fun.