Local Rowers Take First Place in Philadelphia Regatta
Submitted by Gloria Lenhart
The four plus cox boat is the winning boat with (from the back not
including the cox) Matt, Billy and Zack Photo provided
While most kids participate in traditional sports, recent Campolindo High School graduate Matthew Lenhart, current student Billy Deskin and Acalanes High School student Zack Attaran are athletes of the lesser-known sport of rowing. The local boys began rowing with the Oakland Strokes under former Olympic rower Ivan Smiljanic.
Recently, the athletes were selected to participate in an intensive, competitive five-week summer rowing program. The boys traveled Back East as three of the 19 specially selected athletes from eight states and Canada to row for the Pennsylvania Athletic Club Rowing Association.
As a part of the Penn AC Club the boys raced in the Independence Day Regatta in Philadelphia. The three-day regatta has been continuously held since 1880 and is the largest summer club regatta in the U.S.
The local athletes held three out of the four seats in the Men's Junior 4+ (four rowers plus a coxswain) and they rowed to a first place victory in a six boat race, beating the second place boat by 1.46 seconds. Attaran gained a second win as part of the Men's Junior 8 team that blasted through the finish line over three seconds in front of the other five boats.
First place finishers received a commemorative watch awarded dockside by a grand master of the Schuylkill Navy, the 150-year-old organization that oversees Philadelphia's famed Boathouse Row.
Recently, the athletes were selected to participate in an intensive, competitive five-week summer rowing program. The boys traveled Back East as three of the 19 specially selected athletes from eight states and Canada to row for the Pennsylvania Athletic Club Rowing Association. 
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA