By Natalie Gilbert
The excitement that brews for opening day and the Windermere cup stems way beyond our campus.
Not only is it a chance to watch our fellow classmates take to the Husky-infested water and compete against some of the world’s finest, but it also marks opening day for boating season, which brings even more Washingtonians together beyond the classmates you see every day.
When spring quarter rolled around my freshmen year of college and I mentioned when I was home one weekend that I would be attending some “rowing race” my dad rudely corrected me, explaining, “ I think you mean the Windermere Cup.” This launched into a 20-minute history lesson, and a stroll down memory lane for pops.
He remembered watching the race with his fraternity brothers when he went to UW 100 years ago. He said it was a huge event, one that nobody wanted to miss. He still made it a point to go every year although he misses the water balloon fight between the boats in the parade and the people lining the sides after the races were over. (DAWG pack, can we please re-instate this?)
Fast-forward to last week, the Friday before the Windermere Cup, my fellow Street Team members and I were taking the streets of campus, promoting the event and trying to accumulate followers for the Street Team’s social media sites. I asked a few students on campus if they knew what the Windermere Cup was, and although I will ignore the few blow-off’s (I remember who you are) I am proud to announce that my fellow student body knew a lot about the event.
Just to make it interesting, I occasionally asked what they thought a crew race was called (only because I didn’t know what it was called for a long time). Here were the best answers: competition, match, game, and face-off. A crew race is in fact called a regatta.
During the Windermere Cup, the Husky Street Team posted up behind the very full student section giving away Chipotle gift cards to our Twitter followers. I was unable to sit down and talk to any of the rowers on Saturday (they seemed a little busy), but I did get a chance to stand next to an alums and hear her thoughts on the Cup.
Standing about a foot taller than me, she explained that when she used to come down the cut she couldn’t hear anything because the crowd was so loud. She told me the cut acted like an amphitheater and that “it was exhilarating.” I could barely hear her, due to the same effect the students were creating as a race advanced to the finish line.
The exhilarating moments and memories that are created here at the Windermere Cup start with us. People come from all over Washington (and apparently Great Britain) come to watch athletes perform, and students should be a part of this experience as well. The University of Washington and the outstanding athletics events provide a perfect platform to create our own memories that will hopefully keep us coming back in the years to come too. This is what makes the UW the best school in the nation, and this is why you are proud to be a Husky.
The Windermere Cup creates and brings together a community. This is why the Street Team encourages you to take part in these events, because they can mean something to you, too.
Check out the Seattle Times photo gallery from last Saturday:
http://seattletimes.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2023525126/
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