Gregory mariuzza all about rowing and regattas

Gregory Mariuzza: All About Rowing and Regattas Gregory Mariuzza has always loved the sport of rowing, and he is good enough to have participated in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta on several occasions. The Stotesbury Cup Regatta is a prestigious rowing race that draws participants from all over North America. The regatta is held each May on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Each year, more than five thousand competitors meet at the Athletes Village near the Schuylkill River, to experience the challenge of racing against their high school peers. The Stotesbury Cup Regatta draws some 10,000 spectators every year, and they crowd the banks of the Schuylkill River to cheer on their favorite rowing teams, including competitors like Gregory Mariuzza.

As Gregory Mariuzza has learned, rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. It is also one of least least understood. In 1876, the year of the nation’s Centennial, rowing was the only college sport that had a place at the national celebration in Philadelphia, the current site of the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. In those days, rowing outdrew even baseball as a spectator sport; in fact, it drew more spectators than any other team sport in the country. Rowing is also one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games.

As Gregory Mairuzza knows, the Stotesbury Cup Regatta has been held every year since its first race in 1927. Edward T. Stotesbury, a Philadelphia philanthropist, was urged by members of the local rowing community to underwrite the cost of an award to serve as the ultimate goal for scholastic rowing: winning the Boys Senior Eight race. That very first Stotesbury Cup was won by Philadelphia’s West Catholic High School.

Certain aspects of rowing might intimidate other athletes, but not Gregory Mariuzza. The eight-oared boats, called shells, are an astonishing sixty feet long. That’s 20 yards on a football field! Modern boats are made of fiberglass composite material and may weight as little as two hundred pounds – a remarkable fact, given their length.

Gregory Mariuzza is happy to know that rowing is a sport that can be done throughout one’s lifetime. In the past, rowing has been considered a rich man’s sport, but it has become more accessible to the high schoolers, like Gregory Mariuzza and his crew from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High. New equipment can be expensive, but with the prevalence of many men’s and women’s crew found at many colleges these days, used equipment is easier to come by and more affordable to the scholastic programs.