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Yan Vengerovskiy frequently reminds Leslie Freed of what she said when she began rowing six years ago. "I told him I'm just a recreational rower,'' Leslie says, referring to one her coaches at Norwalk's Maritime Rowing Club. "I don't want to race."
Freed's objective has changed. At the USRowing Masters Nationals earlier this month in New Jersey, the 64-year-old Freed won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze. The Stamford woman rows every day of the week and competes in all levels of racing. "It surprised me that I've become so passionate about it,'' Leslie says. "I never had a passion before. The passion bred commitment, and the commitment bred intensity."
Freed, a retired lawyer, raced in the maximum six races at the nationals. She says her best races were in the ones she did not win. Her mixed quad came in second by 1.5 seconds to a boat that included a woman who won gold medals for East Germany in 1976 and 1980. "She said it was hard work to beat us,'' Leslie says. "And that's from an Olympic champion!" In that event, Freed's boat had to go through qualifying just to reach the final. That team included Fred Krupp, Laurie Devitt and Eric Danneman.
One of Freed's golds came in the women's quad with Maritime members Peggy Bliss, Mary Dowd and JoAnn Smith. Another gold medal quad included Devitt, Jeanne Fredericks and Smith. She finished third with Krupp in the Mixed 2x.
Leslie took up rowing when a friend asked for partners to join a Learn to Row program in Greenwich. Freed became hooked. Out of the Learn to Row group, Freed is the only woman who stuck with it. A fellow rower told her there's a progression to the sport. "First you learn to row. Then you learn to race, and then you learn to win,'' Freed says.
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