The Viking Rowing Club of Ventnor, which partners the coastal rowing organization, will host USRowing's Beach Sprint Identification Camp on Saturday and Sunday at the Seaview Beach Marina in Longport.
Patrick Mulranen
Carlo Losco has been competing in local lifeguard bay races over the past four summers, but he rows independently and in a unique boat.
At each event, the 1975 Mainland Regional High School graduate has been the only competitor to use a coastal rowing boat, which are used for beach sprints, something not too popular in this area.
Losco wants to change that.
"We obviously have a lack of exposure (to the sport) because everyone is either a lifeguard, racing Van Duynes, or they are flat water rowers, rowing on lakes and rivers," said Losco, a Viking Coastal Rowing director and owner of Balsley-Losco Real Estate in Northfield.
The Viking Rowing Club of Ventnor will host USRowing's Beach Sprint Identification Camp on Saturday and Sunday at the Seaview Harbor Marina in Egg Harbor Township.
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The two-day event will feature athletes and rowers vying for spots in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Two-time national champion Chris Bak will be one of the athletes there as well as other top rowers, all having to qualify for this event.
Beach sprints are fast-paced coastal rowing competitions that begin with a 50-yard run on the beach to a boat, a 250-meter row around buoys and then back to shore for another 50-yard run to the finish line, where athletes have to hit a buzzer.
Because coastal rowing is not the same as traditional rowing, the boats differ in several ways due to the conditions they are used in. Coastal rowing is competed on open water with waves, wind and currents. Regular rowing is typically on flat, calm water, so the boats are a little more fragile and not as heavy. Coastal boats also do not retain water because they are built differently, Losco said.
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"Nobody has attempted this in South Jersey ever," Losco said. "This is going to be the first. These will be the first coastal boats launched off a South Jersey beach."
"It's pretty wild," said Losco, who rowed at the University of Tampa. "I am more of a flat-water rower, but for some reason I got involved with this. It's unique."
The camp, which also made stops in Ohio, Massachusetts and California before coming to South Jersey, will provide advanced technical instruction and sprint-focused and athletic training, intense beach sprint racing competition and more.
The event is part of USRowing's national initiative to expand coastal rowing and prepare and identify athletes for events, such as the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals from Nov. 6-9 in Antalya, Turkey, and potential participation in the 2028 Olympic trials and games.
Losco said this camp will generate interest in the area for coastal rowing, and possibly even send some local athletes to the Olympic trials in three years. Just the past few months have created more interest and excitement "now that this camp is coming to town," he said.
"When it's over, we will have made tremendous strides toward getting some of our athletes in world competitions. I believe that, and that's not a stretch," he said. "I know we will be able to accomplish that because we have the best rowers in the world right in Atlantic County, right here on the Jersey Shore."
John and Tom McCann, who wrote "The Guards," a South Jersey lifeguard history book; Ventnor Beach Patrol Chief David Funk; Ward Holland, the vice president and co-founder of the Viking Rowing Club; Losco and his former college coach, Tom Feaster, are organizing this weekend's event.
The group started South Jersey Coastal Rowing in 2021, which became Viking Coastal Rowing after the Viking Rowing Club absorbed it two years ago. The local club, as well as the six that started the coastal rowing group, were instrumental in getting USRowing to host its camp in South Jersey.
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"It has been five years in the making. We have gotten discouraged many times because it just was not taking off," Losco said. "But the work in the past two years and, specifically all the help from the Viking Rowing Club, our coastal group became a reality. I am proud of what this group did. They are all the pioneers of this."
The area knows how to run regattas, has a great atmosphere and competitive rowing culture, all reasons this event will be great for the area, Losco said.
"We've even been doing (lifeguard rowing) for 100 years, so there's really no place on the entire East Coast that's more suited for this," he said. "We just had to take steps, to bring something like USRowing to acknowledge the area and give us a shot."
The International Olympic Committee removed lightweight rowing from its 2028 competition. Coastal rowing, specifically beach sprints, replaced it as a part of a broader shift in Olympic rowing, with a greater emphasis on coastal rowing and spectatorship.
Spectators can't always follow the entire race in traditional rowing events, but coastal races are more visible because stands are set up all around the course, Losco said. Coastal rowing courses are also easier to set up, he said.
Some of the bigger races around the world can bring out about 100,000 spectators, Losco said. There will not be that many Saturday and Sunday, but Losco expects a couple hundred, including some local high school athletes.
Losco hopes to bring another race here again next year, but more for local athletes to prepare and develop them.
"It's just a new thing. A lot of people don't quite understand it yet, but they will," he said.
Contact Patrick Mulranen:
609-272-7217
PMulranen@pressofac.com
X @ACPressMulranen
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