As almost all true Pittsburgh residents know, fall brought the great city a beloved guest. One may think of the reopening of the point fountain or the return of a winning and playoff season for the Pirates (the first in 20 years) when recalling the autumn of 2013, but an even greater attraction came to Pittsburgh for its first visit. Large and yellow, the water loving visitor was not a new bridge nor a big floating ear of corn, but rather a migrating waterfowl: the huge Rubber Ducky.
With a big orange smile and an appearance that attracted all different types of people, ranging from loving children to the elderly of Pittsburgh, the Duck enchanted Pittsburgh for all of its month long stay (WPXI). A piece by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman for Pittsburgh’s International Festival of Firsts, an international arts festival, the Duck drew over 1 million people and an estimated $10 million to Pittsburgh (Post-Gazette). The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was pleasantly surprised by the duck’s huge commercial success, rivaling the Duck’s 40 foot stature.
While the Duck may have attracted tourists all the way from Canada, the Duck had one surprising visitor who obtained possibly the most unique view of all: USC Crew. Upper Saint Clair High School’s Crew Team had the wonderful opportunity to view the Duck from its rowing shells on the water. The team was blown away by the Duck’s size and pleasant smile, although skeptical Men’s Team Captain Aditya Thakur, a senior, commented, “The Duck was definitely a Trojan Duck from the Japanese. Every day I rowed past it, I was hoping a samurai would spring out.”
Senior Girl’s Captain Lorrie Pollock loved the added number of spectators on the shore, as she said, “My boat momentarily stole the Duck’s spotlight and the attention was freshly exhilarating!”
After a short viewing break full of exultation over the Duck, the team rowed the roughly 5 kilometer course back up to the Three Rivers Rowing Association (TRRA) boathouse, based on Washington’s landing. The route from the “point” to the top of the “island,” Washington’s Landing, was featured in the annual Head of the Ohio Regatta, hosted by TRRA as one of the nation’s premier fall races.
Despite tough competition, the Women’s Varsity 4 consisting of Shivani Patel (cox), Lorrie Pollock, Sonja Kretschmar, Grace Burton, and Abby Elias medalled with bronze in the High School event. The Men’s portion of the team had success at the team’s last regatta of the fall, Speakmon Memorial Regatta in Columbus, Ohio. Tyler Clark (cox), Aditya Thakur, Greg Vitcavage, Brendan O’keeffe, Bhanu Sharma, Kyle Austin, Chad Beisner, Kevin Monpara, and Sam Connors received bronze in the Men’s High School Lightweight 8 at Speakmon.
USC Crew, though rowing for the entire school year, has three distinct seasons in fall, winter, and spring. Fall and spring consist of on the water practices at TRRA and regattas on weekends. During winter season the team works out on rowing simulation machines called ergs and competes at indoor two indoor erg competitions. The team is always excited to have new members join, and in addition to picking up a lifetime activity, rowers interact in one of the most diverse and close-knit teams in USC. Perhaps when students spend an average of 3 hours a day together for the entire year, they cannot help but become close friends.