Peter Kermond has been the face and voice of Burnham Boat Slings since purchasing the business in 1999. When he's not in the shop, or out rowing, he is probably manning a Burnham booth at a regatta. That’s where we met him – at Head of the Charles – in 2022, just a month after he survived a widow maker heart attack. Peter and his wife Carin Reynolds are both successful national team and masters rowers and high school coaches. They are a testament to teamwork, as they navigated Peter’s health emergency and rehabilitation, and his return to racing.

In 2002, Lindsay Dare Shoop reluctantly walked-on at the University of Virginia. Within a year she became an NCAA Division I All American. In four years she broke a world record and earned her first World Championship. Within six years her hard work manifested a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Today she seeks to help others remove self-imposed limitations. This Fall, 20 years after it all began, the author of Better Great Than Never returns to UVA as an assistant coach, paying it forward.

This thought-provoking conversation considers serendipity, struggle, pressures on student athletes, walk-ons, team-building, rowing for life, Head of the Charles (and being coxed by Mary Whipple), and a whole lot more.

Capital Juniors and Wisco alum Rebekah Armstrong talks about the (slowly) changing face of rowing in the United States, finding mentors and support, and her drive to help BIPOC athletes as a certified mental performance consultant.

Corin Wiggins, a recruited coxswain for the Hobart College men’s crew, established @TheBlackCoxswain Instagram account in 2020, in an effort to connect athletes of color in the rowing community. Two years later, she has forged a community of thousands online and on the water.

A former D1 volleyball player with an M.S. in Sports Administration, Jess Jackson joined USRowing in 2022 as a DEI associate. She hasn’t learned to row (yet), but swears by Orange Theory workouts which incorporate indoor rowing. She’s honest about her first impressions of rowing as exclusive and white, proud of the steps USRowing is taking around diversity and equity, and hopeful that today’s juniors are leading the way in inspiring change for the future of rowing.

From walk-on at the University of Pennsylvania to gold in the LM2x at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Jasper Liu is an elite-level lightweight rower who’s worked hard on and of the water to learn about all aspects of our sport. With his website - www.rowingdojo.com - he’s sharing the best and most useful information that he’s picked up from some of the best coaches in the country.

Brook Yimer started coaching as a volunteer in high school. Just six years later he's the program coordinator for Stem to Stern and coaches for three different programs. He honed leadership skills as a scholastic rower in high school and college, which today is clearly articulated by his advocacy for – and involvement in – community service.

The aches of a teenage growth-spurt, years of collegiate and high performance training and racing, and injuries sustained in an accident, all inform Lisa Lowe’s personal and professional attitudes and opinions about self-care and injury management.

PCR empowers public school students to reach their highest potential. With a small staff, lots of heart, and the support of numerous partners, the newest neighbor on Boathouse Row is leading the way in changing the face of rowing on the Schuylkill River.