A quick race

June Casagrande

You’ve just finished rowing one of the most exhausting races around:

a 2.7-mile fight to the finish against some of the best rowers

anywhere. And, miracle of miracles, you finished in the top three.

What are you going to do now?

Don’t answer “I’m going to Disneyland” too soon because, believe

it or not, there’s more rowing to do. The really fast, exhausting

kind with a $5,000 prize dangled in front of you as an incentive.

This year, the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival will begin a new

tradition that’s sure to add a little excitement to an already

adrenaline-filled event: Dash for Cash, a 500-meter sprint that pits

the top three distance racers in a splashy rush for an inspiring

purse.

“It’ll go really fast; we expect it will take less than two

minutes,” said Alicia Cole, event coordinator for the annual regatta.

“You have to be a really good all-around competitor. You have to have

the endurance, because you have to place in the head race, and you

have be fast in order to win the sprint.”

Besides putting top competitors to an even greater test, the dash

is also designed to make the annual regatta more crowd-pleasing.

The annual regatta, which begins under the Via Lido Bridge at the

west end of Lido Island, will draw top scullers from around the

region this year, including Marcel Hacker, bronze medalist at the

2000 Olympics and silver medalist at the 2003 World Rowing

Championships in the Men’s Open Single.

“It should be exciting,” Cole said.