Bozenski clan wins together at U.S. Rowing's National Masters Regatta

In the middle of August, Deborah Bozenski, 42, joined her husband, Philip, 42, and his brother, Mike, 47, on an eight-hour trek from their home in suburban Detroit to the U.S. Rowing National Masters Regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Philip and Mike grew up in a rowing family and have been on the water nearly all their life, but Deborah, who is a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines, had never followed the sport until meeting her husband. Yet in Tennessee, with the temperatures hovering near 100 degrees, Deborah was hardly content to stay on the shoreline yelling encouragement.

Instead, she was also picking up her own gold medal after her team, which included Philip, took the 36-plus mixed 4-person race. The pair, alongside Michael and Carol Raisky, covered the 1,000-meter course in a time of 3:07.69 to top the Union Boat Club from Boston and a Greenwich Crew (Conn.) squad. "She had never seen the water before we met," said Philip. "But she knew it was part of what came with our marriage."

The Bozenski clan, all representing the Ecorse Club (Mich.), had a pretty good weekend at the four-day event. Philip entered five races and medaled in all of them. "Overall, we were pretty darn satisfied," he said. "Out of 13 years of competing in Masters rowing events, this is probably the best we've ever fared."

Philip collected two golds, two silvers and one bronze. He teamed with his brother Mike for his most thrilling event. In the men's 43-plus heavyweight double sculls, Team Bozenski edged the team of Andrew Washburn and Dan Gorriaran from Providence, R.I., by just seven one hundreths of a second to win the gold.

"It was our last race of the regatta and we put it all on the line," said Philip. "After the first 250 meters we were beating them by about three seats, which is the equivalent of about 6 feet, but going into the middle 500, they caught up to us. I felt rather confident at the end, but at the finish line it was 'beep, beep.' I thought I was maybe just one seat ahead of their bowman. "We had a teammate standing by the referee stand. Right away he asked them, 'Who are you calling?' They finally said 'we're calling Ecorse.' We won by about 6 inches. We were just absolutely riding high after a race that close."

The Bozenski brothers completed the course in 3:14.88. The race also served as a little revenge after the Ecorse team took second to Washburn's and Gorriaran's Narragansett Boat Club team by less than a second in the four-man race the day before.

Overall, the Saugatuck Rowing Club, based out of Westport, Conn., took the team trophy for the fourth consecutive year, collecting 960.75 points. Community Rowing Inc. from Boston was second at 436 total points, followed by third place Potomac Boat Club (Washington, D.C.) at 392.5.

Heading the Saugatuck club is general manager Nicoleta Mantescu, a former Romanian national squad rowerand coach of the national team which captured Olympic gold in Barcelona.

She also picked up the oars herself in several races. "I think the difference is our great coaching staff," explained Mantescu. "We had 54 competitors down there. Over the past four years that is probably the smallest group we've taken, so it wasn't just a matter of our numbers, but more about great performances."

Saugatuck team members collected 34 national titles at the championships including a win in the 50-plus women's club 8's race. "We were especially happy winning the women's eight club," said Mantescu. "We've been trying for a couple of years to get that title."

Mantescu came home with a pair of gold medals herself, one in the women's 36-plus Club 4 and one in the 27-plus Mixed 4. She also grabbed a silver on the final day in the 36-plus Mixed 4.