Row, Row, Rowing toward a championship
Row, Row, Rowing toward a championship
MTU rower is a double national title holder
By KURT HAUGLIE, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — Tim Wong is the kind of athlete who is able to do well the first time he tries almost any sport, including rowing.
At the United States National Rowing Championships on the weekend of July 15 and 16, Wong finished first in the elite light weight singles and first in the doubles with rowing partner Max Fowle of Pennsylvania.
Wong, who just graduated from Michigan Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in material sciences, said he’s been rowing competitively only since his freshman year at the school in 2002-03.
“My roommate and I found out about the rowing club at (a Tech) activities fair,” he said.
It looked interesting, Wong said, so he decided to join the Tech rowing club. There is no rowing team at the school.
Having been raised in White Bear Lake, Minn., which is near Minneapolis, Wong said he had experience canoeing so he was comfortable his first time in a rowing boat.
“I’ve always been a fan of the water,” he said.
However, Wong said he didn’t immediately get into a single boat with the club.
“Everyone starts in an eight (person boat),” he said. “I rode eights and fours my first year.”
The Tech rowing club races mostly in the Midwest states and the biggest races are in Green Bay, Lansing and Elkhart, Ind.
“My first race, we won the novice eight plus,” he said.
A plus boat has a coxswain, or person who calls out the rowing stroke count, Wong said.
Although Wong said he enjoyed his initial experience with the rowing club, due to time restraints he wasn’t with the club in his sophomore year, but he did go back.
“I got into a single my junior year,” he said.
Wong said the two types of boats are sweeps, in which each rower has one oar, and sculls, in which each rower has two oars. He races in single sculls, which fortunately use two oars.
“If I had one oar in a single, I’d go around in a circle,” he said.
Wong said his first race in a single wasn’t exactly in a regulation boat, however.
“My first race in a single was in a milk carton boat,” he said.
That competition was part of the Aquatenniel in Minneapolis, which is a celebration of lakes in the area.
The boats are actually made out of milk cartons, Wong said, and despite the lighthearted aspect of the competition, he was serious about it.
“I wanted to win it,” he said.
Last September, Wong said he entered his first official race in Green Bay and won that, which encouraged him to continue in the sport.
“After that season I wanted to go to the next level, which was national competition,” he said.
Wong’s coach at the Tech club is Terry Smythe, who said as soon as she meet him, she knew he would take to rowing.
“He came to me a very well-conditioned athlete,” Smythe said. “He really was a natural.”
Before taking up rowing, Smythe said Wong was a competitor in cross country skiing, mountain biking and other highly aerobic activities.
Rowing is a sport that requires very serious discipline to do well, Smythe said, and Wong does what is necessary to be successful.
“He’s a lean, mean rowing machine,” she said. Smythe said she just entered her 13th season as coach of the Tech rowing club, and Wong is the most impressive performer she’s been involved with.
“I’ve never had a kid quite as tenacious as Tim,” she said. “Coming from behind is no deterrent to him.”
Smythe said Wong’s rowing style may not be the prettiest, but he does what is necessary to win.
“He has figured out how to get speed out of that boat,” she said.
Wong said last summer he entered his first national competition at Indianapolis.
“I won a silver medal in the single lightweight singles,” he said. “I would like to have done better.”
Wong said a lightweight rower is less than 154 pounds.
The Tech rowing club stores their boats outside near the Houghton waste water treatment plant, and Wong said that bothers him.
“We really need a boat house,” he said. “We have tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and it’s getting damaged everyday.”
Smythe agrees there is a serious need to get proper storage for the club’s boats. She wants the club to grow, but not having a permanent facility is a hinderance to that.
Because of his natural talent, Smythe said it’s important for him to continue moving up competitively.
“The key is getting to the next level of coaching,” she said.
Smythe said Wong is working for and training with Tech alumnus Jim Dreher, who owns a boat-building business, and is a coach.
“They have put people on the national team,” she said.
Wong said he wants now to move on to the world championships and the Olympics. He would like to be able to compete at the 2008 Beijing games and he thinks he’s on track to try out for a spot on the team.
“Knowing I’m one of the fastest...in the U.S. helps me realize I can achieve those goals.” he said.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com
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