I may or may not have shamelessly borrowed, swiped, or stolen all photos and video contained in this post.
If, by chance, I swiped it from you or your social media page, I apologize.
Last year I met Elena "Nena" Almansi when she was visiting California with some of her cool friends. We talked about rowing, racing, West Coast IPA's, and we all ate some tacos at Taco Mesa.
When I was in her neighborhood, we talked about rowing, I watched her actively racing, we shared some low quality beers on Sant'Erasmo, and then we ate some lagoon fish and polenta (among other great things) at the Trattoria La Rosa Dei Venti.
Since that great experience,
watching the Regata in Sant'Erasmo from a chase boat
(see The 2019 Regata di Sant'Erasmo - "If You Ain't Rubbin', You Ain't Racin'"),
I've become a long-distance sports fan of the regatas there in the Veneto.
They're not available on ESPN, and you can't watch them live,
but they do eventually end up online.
The most recent regata took place along the inside shoreline of one of the barrier islands that help to form the Venetian lagoon.
This island, known as Pellestrina, is south of Venice and stretches somewhat north-to-south for 11 kilometers (about 7.5 miles).
Just after the start.
The women's race started near the southern tip of the island,
traveled north along the shoreline,
turned at a buoy by a huge floating drydock by the Cantiere ACTV Ex "De Poli" (for those of you geeking out right now on Google Maps),
and continued south - finishing near the church that's called the Santuario della Madonna dell'Apparizione.
Here's the full video of the race.
As you watch, you'll see some of the landmarks mentioned above.
To watch it full screen, follow this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4JSYfMod14&feature=share
In a standard Venetian regata there are nine boats, along with a reserve boat on site (I suppose it's there in case one of the nine entrants don't show up, or something truly scandalous prevents them from competing).
When those nine boats line up, side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by...oh,
you know what I mean - they stretch wide across the water.
Eventually though, all the competitors end up in a fast-moving jumble,
which then leads to a long trail of boats with occasional attempts by some rowers to pass one or more of the boats in front of them.
The key, for anyone who read my post about the Sant'Erasmo race,
is to get ahead and stay ahead.
And that's exactly what "Nena" Almansi and her rowing partner Romina Catanzaro did. They had a great start (a turbo boost, really),
which allowed them to get ahead.
While some boats were jostling for position,
and a few even got briefly tangled up,
the women in the blue boat were ahead...and working to stay ahead.
There were some position changes, especially after the buoy turn as the team in the orange boat worked their way forward, but Nena and Romina held the lead position all the way to the finish line.
A fast finish.
That blue boat has a different name in the Veneto:
"celeste" - as in heavenly.
It refers to the color of the sky.
As you can see from the results,
the first boat to finish was the #4 celeste.
we can see that the second place finisher was the #7 arancio (orange),
followed by #2 canarin (yellow), and #6 verde (green).
As in most women's regatas these days, there are many competitors in the field who are sponsored and/or associated with Row Venice.
I have been so impressed with the impact they've had on the sport.
The top finishers receive red flags - which are called "bandiere".
Red is first place,
White is second,
Green is third
and blue is fourth.
On Sunday, August 4th, Elena Almansi and Romina Catanzaro proudly held red bandiere. And as it happens, Anna Campagnari is Elena's mother - so the two racers weren't the only proud ones that day.
Romina and Elena with their red bandiere.
And so I conclude by saying that I am also proud...proud and honored to know these great Venetians. A big congrats to Romina, Nena, and the parents and families of them both. Also congrats to all of the competitors in such a great sport - you are blessed to row in a place as amazing as the Venetian lagoon.
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