Oklahoma Regatta Festival gets bigger and bigger

Developments are exemplified in the Oklahoma Regatta Festival. Rowers came to the Oklahoma from great rowing nations like Germany, China, Italy and Canada as well as the United States national team to compete.

Amongst the festival’s highlights was the USA Rowing World Challenge which was first staged in 2007 as a pre-Olympic international race. Canada’s Michael Braithewaite won the men’s single with Anne Kathrin Thiele of Germany winning the women’s single. German athletes went on to win the majority of challenge races including the men’s double sculls (Stephan Krueger and Lauritz Schoof) and the women’s double (Carina Baer and Tina Manker). The United States (Michael Gennaro and Robert Otto) picked up the men’s pair.

The 4km long Head of the Oklahoma was dominated by United States university crews. Kansas University won the open women’s eight with Stanford University finishing first in the collegiate women’s eight. The open men’s eight was won by the USRowing Training Centre while the University of California at Berkeley finished first in the collegiate division and recorded the fastest time overall.

The University of California also recorded the fastest overall time for the OGE NightSprints which attracted large crowds to watch the floodlit 500m sprint races.

And to cap off the off-water activities, the ‘Blu Party’ was a resounding success with rowing’s own celebrities, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, in attendance.The party, using the theme ‘One moment. One dream’ was a fundraiser for United States rowing hopefuls.

Executive Director of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, Mike Knopp, can be credited with much of the success of rowing in Oklahoma. Knopp talked to World Rowing about the festival.

World Rowing: This year the festival has continued to grow. What was new this year?
Mike Knopp: Yes, we had approximately 1,600 competitors. The (newly) completed Devon Boathouse and Chesapeake Finish Line Tower became central to the regatta this year handling many functions that used to be relegated to tents. The VIP spaces were phenomenal utilizing the large event facilities in the Devon Boathouse that provided panoramic views of the race course and finish line areas. The top floor of the Chesapeake Finish Line Tower features a balcony overlooking the finish line area and the entire course had live video feeds in all of the facilities. The athletes also were able to try out the new dynamic propulsion rowing tank and check out the other high performance facilities, such as the high altitude training room and the endless pool.
The new dealing area under the tower was enjoyed by the spectators providing great views of the finish line and jumbotron. We also had the new movie screen on the side of the Chesapeake Finish Line Tower in action with live feeds from the racing. The officials enjoyed the new timing facilities on the second floor of the tower. We also debuted the new studio on the third floor and all of the production capabilities. We had a news desk in the tower for studio interviews and switched in and out to the live action on the river. This was also streaming on our web site. This gave a preview of the type of capabilities we now have in the Boathouse District to do future live productions.
Another great new feature was our expansive new lawn that provided a large area for multiple attractions that spectators and families enjoyed, including a zip line, rock wall, entertainment stage, and Olympic Experience area where kids were able to try out many different Olympic sports and received medals.

WR: You attracted a number of countries to race in the World Challenge, how did these countries get recruited?
MK: I began the recruiting process late last year, but really solidified it at the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne. We were very pleased to attract such high calibre competition again for this event and see this continuing to build as a great tradition where we can bring excellent international competition to the United States. The German women stayed to train for a week following the event.

WR: What were spectator numbers like for the night sprints?
MK: Huge this year. We had approximately 50,000 spectators through the weekend with more people at Friday's OGE NightSprints than have ever been at the river at one time. It was completely packed and was very festive.

WR: Tell us about the Blu Party fundraiser.
MK: Blu was also huge this year and it took over entire Devon Boathouse and grounds. We had around 1,000 attendees including the Winklevoss twins and many of our city stakeholders. The party theme this year was "One Moment. One Dream." supporting the high performance athletes training in Oklahoma City to achieve their Olympic dream. This will help support the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center. We had boat christenings, a ceremonial boat and athlete procession with the US Team, international teams and Oklahoma City University (OCU) athletes. OCU is the host along with the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation). Tyler and Cameron have been interested in coming to Oklahoma City to check out the facilities and this provided a great opportunity for them and people really enjoyed meeting them.