First-year crew team wins Dad Vail Regatta
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Lilly Anderson of Northborough prepares for an early-morning workout on the Charles River. Anderson and her team competed this week at the 125th annual Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, held on Martindale Pond, a body of water fed by Lake Ontario. PHOTO/KEN POWERS

Northborough - It's amazing how things work out: a year ago Algonquin Regional High School graduate Lilly Anderson was heading to her sophomore year at Philadelphia University a very unhappy young woman.

For starters, she shouldn't have been heading back to the City of Brotherly Love at all. She was supposed to be spending the fall semester studying in China. A not-so-funny thing happened to Anderson's plans to enroll at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU).

Something, no everything, got lost in translation and HKPU had no record of her or any of her classmates' plans to attend the school. Philadelphia University officials attempted some 11th-hour intervention to no avail. The trip was off .

"I was devastated," Anderson said. "We had been planning that trip for a year. I mean, come on, how many kids get a chance to study in China? And we were so close. Weeks away."

So, Anderson trudged back to Philadelphia and tried to push the thoughts of the Great Wall and Beijing and Tiananmen Square out of her mind. That attempt was failing miserably when she went to an organizational meeting for the non-existent men's and women's crew teams. She had been to a meeting at the end of her sophomore year, too, and the interest level was good, with about 60 kids showing up. Anderson was pleased when she saw that many of the students who had showed up in the spring were also at the fall meeting.

During the summer the school had hired a coach - Chris O'Brien - and he was talking about his plans for the program - practices, races, workouts, dedication, desire, commitment. Anderson found herself getting more and more motivated as O'Brien spoke. She was taken by his passion, by his commitment, and she figured if he could give that much she could, too.

Anderson immersed herself in the crew team and rowing when she wasn't busy pursuing her fashion industry management and marketing degree. She never missed a practice or a workout or a weight-lifting session. She created a running program for herself and stuck to it. She did extra rowing on the Upper Schuylkill River, where the team trained.

All the hard work paid off for Anderson and the Rams last year. In its first year of existence, at the club level no less, the women's novice heavyweight 8 boat won a gold medal at the ultra prestigious Dad Vail Regatta, held on the Schuylkill.

"It was so unbelievable," Anderson said. "The Dad Vail is the most prestigious rowing regatta in the country. And it's on our river. And it's in our first year as a program."

And it never would have happened - for Anderson, anyway - had the trip to China not been canceled.

"I think about that all the time," Anderson said. "The last year has been the defining year of my life as far as rowing is concerned. I got into it, I love it, and I've realized I want very much to keep rowing competitively after my college career has ended. I can't imagine what direction my life would be going in had I gone to China instead of staying in Philadelphia and working out and concentrating on rowing all year."