Northville Rowers make it to Mackinac

The Northville Rowing Club is a two-year old team of NHS athletes, boys and girls, who row during the fall and spring on Ford Lake in Ypsilanti. When the Michigan weather turns too cold or too windy to be on the water (unsurprisingly, pretty often) these athletes train on rowing machines at Northville high school.

As a fundraiser, the rowers took to their rowing machines in downtown Northville with the goal to row the over four hundred miles from Detroit to Mackinac. Thirty-five rowers took one-hour shifts on nine rowing machines – most athletes rowing at least twice, a few rowing three times – and completed over 415 miles for the cause.

Rowing for two hours isn’t uncommon for these student athletes. “Since we were giving up practice time for this event, I wanted the rowers to get a real workout,” said Director of Rowing Van Papoulis. “I wanted them to work hard, raise awareness of the sport and also raise money.”

Parents of the athletes believe they achieved all three goals. “While the kids were rowing, drivers beeped as they drove past,” commented NRC Fundraising chair Sue Ulrich. “People walking by stopped to see what was going on and ended up donating because they saw how hard the rowers were working.”

Rowers collected pledges from family, friends and community members – just like you see for a bowl-a-thon or walk-a-thon. In addition, each rower chose several Northville businesses to approach for sponsorship of the event. A BIG thank you goes out to our very generous sponsors:

·      Kelly & Kelly PC

·      Bricks (delicious soup!)

·      Craig David Butler Studios

·      Emerald City Designs

·      Fred’s Ice Cream

·      Good Time Party Store/Custard Time

·      Great Harvest Bread

·      Health for Life Chiropractic

·      Hunter Orthodontics

·      IAQ Management Services

·      KB Jewelers

·      Lecole Planners

·      Northville Gallery

·      Northville Music Academy

·      Northville Physical Rehabilitation

·      Northville Stitching Post

·      Preservation Dental

·      Russell Design

·      Rutiger Consulting

·      Plymouth Dental Associates

·      Simply Wine

·      Starring the Gallery

·      Tsalis Asset Management

·      Vision IT

·      Weldon Enterprises Global

A special thanks goes out to Bob and Margene Buckhave and their Church Square Shops for graciously allowing this event to occur in their courtyard for a second year in a row. The Buckhaves have supported the team from the very beginning, donating practice space before the team was able to locate space within the high school.

The team raised over $6,000 from this fundraiser – money slated to go toward the purchase of a boat. The type of boat, called a “Four,” holds 4 rowers and a coxswain. To donate to this cause or for more information about NRC, please visit our website at www.northvillerowing.com.