2008

by Kay Roseen

Nine rowers from Teaneck High School, their coach and a parent booster pushed off the dock at Nereid Boat Club in Rutherford at 7:15 a.m. Saturday morning for a marathon 28.9 miles! At 3:04 p.m., they landed their boats in Teaneck. 

When asked how they were doing, the single word, “Exhausted!” floated back on the air as the varsity women’s quad waited their turn to unload and carry their boat up to River Road. But by the time the rowers joined friends and supporters on the lawn at nearby Grace Lutheran Church, they were already talking about next year and making their marathon row an annual event.

Coach Clemens Reinke speculated that it may have been the longest distance anyone has rowed from the Passaic River. Alfred Medioli, rowing parent and Secretary of the Teaneck Rowing Club, agreed. “The two clubs in Rutherford used to have their ‘Around the World’ event, but that finished up in Secaucus, our half-way point.”

The rowers of THS Varsity Women’s Quad, Anna Nathanson, Sarah Pearlman, Carmél Pratt, and Juliette Conte, and the Mixed Novice/Junior Quad, David Abreu, Javier Rueda, Roxana Bustamante, Karena Rosario, and Daniela Nota, together with Coach Clemens Reinke and Alfred Medioli of the Teaneck Rowing Club, and set themselves this long, hot challenge hoping to gain sponsors by the mile or kilometer on behalf of the Teaneck Rowing Club.

“Teaneck Rowing Club is the parent booster organization for THS Crew,” explained Coach Reinke. “We are so grateful to them for providing, maintaining, and expanding the equipment we use; boats, oars, coaching launches, and much more. We look forward to this opportunity to support the club that’s done such an outstanding job supporting our kids. Also, we look forward to donating a quarter of our proceeds to the Hackensack Riverkeeper as they work to reclaim the river we want to use. It’s really looking better; you’d be surprised how much wildlife I see on the Hackensack as I row in the mornings.”

From Nereid, the boats travelled south along the Passaic River through Lyndhurst, Nutley, North Arlington, Belleville, Kearny, Newark, and Harrison. Rounding Kearny Point, where the Passaic meets the Hackensack, they turned back north toward home. 

On the Hackensack, the group glided through Jersey City into Secaucus, where they greeted the Hackensack Riverkeepers Clean-Up and Barbecue. Forgoing the barbecue, they kept stroking through Little Ferry, North Bergen, Ridgefield Park, Hackensack, and Bogota, and finally landed in the shallows behind Grace Lutheran Church, 1200 River Road.