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Members of the Norwalk River Rowing Association will be like a fish out of water this weekend. A NRRA team will be competing in the Ragner Relay, an endurance race from New Haven to Boston, to raise money for the Matthew Zucker Memorial Fund. The fund
provides youth athletes with scholarships to participate in programs at the Norwalk River Rowing Association.
"It's going to be fun,'' says Charles Huthmaker, the NRRA director of rowing who organized the team. The 191.3-mile relay course winds through the scenic towns of eastern Connecticut and Massachusetts and finishes at Gillette Stadium. The runners will each complete three legs of between 3 and 7 miles, accompanied by two team vans that will shuttle them between legs.
The team hopes to complete the course in under 27 hours, which would require an average pace of better than 8 minutes and 30 seconds per mile. "We're not runners, but most of us have running experience,'' Huthmaker says. The race started in the morning and continues through the night, ending around midday on Saturday. Runners will be equipped with high-visibility vests, lights, and headlamps for legs in the middle of the night. For the eight hours between legs, each runner will be focused on eating, sleeping, and recovering strength and stamina for the next leg.
The team is hoping to raise $2,000 for the Matthew Zucker Memorial Fund in support of NRRA's mission to make rowing opportunities available all young people in the region. Last year the Fund granted over $40,000 in scholarships. Money is raised from private donors, charitable foundations, and several fundraisers held by NRRA throughout the year.
Team members for NRRA are coaches Huthmaker, Brian Ambrette, Melanie Jacobi, Dan Liashek, and Dan Pierce; rowers Bill Senst, Jessie Caird, Alexandra Stein, and Juliet Brocki; and friends Laura Senst and Zachary Putnam.
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