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Lake Lanier Olympic Venue Calendar

Lanier Canoe & Kayak Club

Thru Sept. Sun.& Sat. 1-6 p.m. - Come Try It
Sept. 7 - Adult Learn to Kayak Session 6 begins
Sept. 11 - Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
Sept. 18 - Fall Richardson Racing League Fun Race
Sept. 20 - Adult Learn to Kayak Session 7 begins
Sept. 27 - Adult Learn to Kayak Session 8 begins
Oct. 1 - Moonlight Paddle
Oct. 2 - Fall Richardson Racing League Fungatta
Oct. 22 - Moonlight Paddle
Oct. 30 - Halloween Howl

Lake Lanier Rowing Club

Sept. 2 - Junior Rowing Interest Meeting
Sept. 6 - Junior Fall Program Begins
Sept. 25 - Taste of Gainesville/Lanier Night Sprints

Olympic gold rower inspires others • Dragon Boat Fest expected to be the biggest on Lanier • Night Sprints add to full plate at Taste of Gainesville • LCKC Athlete of the Month: Emerson Smith • LLRC Youth Program grows

Olympic gold rower inspires others
By Jane Harrison

When Chuck Logg and pairs partner Tim Price stunned the rowing world with their gold medal win in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Lake Lanier was five years away from reaching its full potential.

Now, Logg rows on the lake where Olympians raced in 1996. The rower and the lake share an Olympic history that inspires others to dream beyond the ordinary. The gold medalist’s impact on area youth and his peers in the Lake Lanier Rowing Club perpetuate the Olympic legacy of the man and the lake.

In August, 79-year-old Logg stood before a group of Boy Scouts assembled in the Lanier Olympic Venue boathouse after completing requirements for a rowing merit badge. “Set a goal and get there,” he told the scouts from Northeast Georgia/Gainesville Troup 16.

The 36 boys achieved their merit badge goal after lessons with LLRC Executive Director/Head Coach Jim Pickens. They progressed from awkward strokes on ergometers to a semblance of grace and teamwork on the water.

Their progress embodied, in compressed scope, Logg’s achievement in a four-year period began in 1948. That’s when, as he told the scouts, his father, a Rutgers University crew coach, took him to see the Olympic rowing trials in Princeton, N.J. Little did the high school junior know that he would be holding a gold medal for the 2000 meter pairs in the next Olympics.

“It all happened so fast,” Logg recalled. After training for four years, the emergent rower was put in a boat with an injured college football player. Tim Price, Logg said, was a multi-sport college athlete whose father told him to find yet another sport after he got hurt playing football. He took up oars with Logg in mid-May 1952, and the pair mirrored each other’s strokes.

They found themselves among nine entries in the Olympic trials. “It was a real slug fest with two guys from Harvard,” Logg said. But, he and Price pulled ahead to win by 2.5 seconds, a wide span in sprint rowing.

Less than six weeks later, the oarsmen whose dream performance surprised the American rowing scene, were on their way to the Olympics in Helsinki as the only U.S. crew competitors. He told the scouts that they “won handily” in the first heat and qualified for the finals.

The day of the medal race was “fairly windy with a head wind and a good chop,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a long race.”

They struggled the first 500 meters to hold mid-pack position. Logg related what happened next: “At 1,000 meters, we were in the mix with the Swiss and the English. By 1,500 meters, we were getting into second (behind the Belgian crew) and we started taking the stroke up. We couldn’t see the Belgian boys, but we could hear them. We did a sprint and passed them with about 200 meters to go. We won by 3 and a half seconds.”

He said that when the two rowed to the dock for take out, they were given flowers as a photographer snapped a picture of the pair that rocked the rowing realm. He presented autographed prints of that picture to admiring scouts in the Lanier boathouse.

He also showed them his framed gold medal.

The scouts were impressed. “I think that’s really neat. I’ve never met a gold medalist before,” said Zachary Morgan, 12, of Gainesville. He added that he found the Olympian’s water sport exciting and challenging. “It’s really fun. You have to work together. It’s a team sport,” he said.

Nearly 60 years after winning the gold medal, Logg still craves team camaraderie and unity with a rowing partner. His post-medal journey took him into the military, farming and fatherhood (he has six children and two step-daughters) before he came back to rowing. After watching Olympic rowing on Lake Lanier in 1996, he made Gainesville his retirement destination. About five years ago, he moved to within a five-minute drive of the Lanier venue.

He joined LLRC and rows seven to 10 kilometers three times a week with member John Ferriss, whose tall, lanky frame matches his rowing partner’s. Both also share collegiate rowing heritage. Ferriss coached at Cornell University before moving to Gainesville.

Ferriss, 63, expressed respect for Logg’s Olympic achievement, but indicated his greatest admiration is for what Logg does now. “Every time we go out, I hope that when I’m 80 I can get in a boat and row. He first got in a boat when he was 18 or 19 years old and he’s stayed with it 60 years later,” he said.

“(Logg) enjoys rowing a lot and is very competitive,” Ferriss said. “I think he is getting stronger and more fit.” He added that Logg has outlasted many of his former competitors and that the two won by default in the masters’ regionals last year because there were no opponents.

Logg said he keeps in touch with his Olympic partner, Price. His photo with Price, showing them in woolen athletic shorts of the 1950s after winning the race of their life, is a reminder of what shared efforts can accomplish and an inspiration to both young and old to aspire for the extraordinary.

Dragon Boat Fest expected to be the biggest on Lanier
By Jane Harrison

A record number of teams have signed up for the annual Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival coming up Sept. 11 at the Lake Lanier Olympic Venue. Sixty-four teams are expected to race in the colorful annual celebration recognized as one of the biggest events on the lake.

“We’ve maxed out the field; we can’t take any more,” said Gene Hanratty, director of the Hong Kong Information Center of Atlanta. Hanratty signs up the long-boat teams, entertainers and food vendors and the Lake Lanier Rowing Club is in charge of everything on the water.

The event usually draws around 5,000 participants and spectators to partake in a culturally diverse festival rooted in Chinese tradition. The action on the water, plus the entertainment, food and camaraderie in the Olympic Venue grandstands create a unique blend of competition, fun and multiculturalism on the lake.

The racing features 20-person teams paddling together to propel 39-foot boats adorned with dragon heads and tails. A drummer in each boat yells encouragement and pounds a beat in an attempt to help paddlers stroke in unison. Teams range from recreational groups to highly competitive paddlers who seriously train for dragon boat races in the U.S. and abroad.

Hanratty said the Open Division racing category, which has the most competitive teams, experienced the most growth this year. “Our festival is usually considered a ‘fun’ festival, but it is becoming more competitive,” he said. This year the “better teams” in the Open Division will race 500 meters, rather than the normal 250 meters. Some will qualify to race in a 2,000 meter finale.

The more competitive races attracted entries from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida. Additionally, LCKC paddlers and those training in the club’s dragon boat program will ramp up the excitement. Seventeen collegiate teams will add to the thrills with their fight songs and school spirit.

Hanratty attributed growth of the event from about 50 teams in recent years to this year’s high to increased interest in the sport. The U.S. Dragon Boat Federation lists the 2,000 year old sport as the eighth fastest growing sport in the world with thousands of competitors in more than 60 countries.

The Lake Lanier festival has attracted teams from area corporations, such as The Hone Depot, AJC International, Merrill Lynch and AT&T, and colleges, churches and local organizations.

A highlight of the celebration occurs not on the water, but on shore, with the opening ceremony, held about half-way through the race schedule. The ceremony features Asian music, dancing, acrobatics and puppetry as a cadre of dancers slithers in dragon costume for the symbolic dotting the eye of the dragon.

The festival also offers a bountiful array of regional and exotic cuisine, from barbecue to stuffed bamboo.

The throng of festival-goers usually creates heavy traffic on two-lane Clarks Bridge Road. Hanratty said additional law enforcement officers will be on hand to help manage the flow. In addition, new designated parking areas are planned near the venue.

Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival

When: Sept 11. Races 7:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 1:30-4 p.m. Opening ceremony 12:30-1:30 p.m. 2,000 meter selected team races, 3:30-4 p.m. Awards 4-4:30 p.m.
Where: Lake Lanier Olympic Venue Olympic Course and Plaza, 3105 Clarks Bridge Rd, Gainesville.
Admission: Free
Information: www.lckc.org, www.dragonboatatlanta.com

Night Sprints add to full plate at Taste of Gainesville
By Jane Harrison

A recipe that has brought thousands of hungry diners to Lake Lanier is being spiced up this month with a racy new ingredient. For about a dozen years, the annual Taste of Gainesville has mixed local restaurateurs’ specialties and live music on the Lanier Olympic Venue plaza to please palates and souls relishing the cusp of autumn.

This year’s menu adds a new twist: a night sprint regatta. As the September 25 dinner winds down on the candlelit plaza, tower lights will illumine the waters for rowers to race on the Olympic course strewn with lighted buoys.

“This is a good way to get the community to see what we do,” said Jim Pickens, Executive Director and Head Coach of the Lake Lanier Rowing Club, which organizes the event. ‘The audience can enjoy the races when they are done eating.”

He expects about 100 entries from about 15 youth, collegiate and masters’ teams will compete on the 500 meter course in front of the plaza. The night sprints, a novelty in the Southeast, is generating a lot of crew interest and by late August had already attracted a Florida team entry.

The al fresco dinner is expected to feature fare from about 40 area restaurants that set up booths to dish up their best. The eclectic spread, which in the past has included a range of delights from smoked chicken, clam chowder, and tamales to cream cheese tarts and a chocolate fountain, portrays the culinary diversity available at North Georgia restaurant tables. Chefs and restaurateurs come back to the Olympic venue year after year to lure customers to their doors.

The lakeside eating tradition generally brings more than 500 diners to the venue, according to Cliff Ward, LLRC Vice-President. He encouraged people to take advantage of a new Internet link, www.tasteofgainesville.org, to reserve $25 tickets. Tickets at the gate increase to $35. Children age 10 and younger are admitted free. Diners may also make table reservations seating eight or 10.

Ward said club members plan to set up the same charming ambience that patrons have come to expect: tables adorned with white cloths and flowers and acoustic music performed by a local songster. He expects artistic displays from area students will add a new aesthetic to the evening.

The main draw is outdoor dining in a gorgeous setting by the lake. People flock to Taste of Gainesville because they enjoy “being outside on the lake and being with friends and family. The venue is great … and the food is great,” Ward said.

Only twice during the 12-plus year history of the event has rain moved the dinner inside. Last year the club hastily set up the tables and restaurant booths inside the boathouse, where servers filled plates between boats and oars.

This year, if all goes according to plan, diners will see boats and oars in action as they push away from the table to gaze upon the competition under a waning full moon.

LCKC Athlete of the Month: Smith paddles fast, keeps a smile
By Jane Harrison

Athlete of the Month: Emerson Smith
Age: 14
School: Freshman at North Hall High School
Family: Mother, Kaela; father, Doug; sisters, Adrianne, 16, Farran, 10
Paddling background: “I did a camp when I was a kid and liked it. I decided to join the (LCKC) middle school team. After a few seasons, I joined the Bronze Development Team. I kept going and got serious and decided to move up to High Performance. I love the sport.” He began working with High Performance Coach Claudiu Ciur in April.
Specialties: K-1 1000 meters and K-2 200 meters
Accomplishments: Smith is LCKC’s fastest bantam paddler, winning three medals in USA Canoe: /Kayak National Championships last year. His best was a gold in the K-4 1000 meters. He looked forward to competing in the Aug. 26 USACK National Championship and hopes to increase his medal count in the Oklahoma City regatta with top finishes in numerous events.
Goals: Short term-medals at the National Championship; long-term-selection to the USACK National Team, competition in the Junior World Championship, and “maybe, the Olympics.”
What motivates him: On summer days when some kids reclined in air-conditioned comfort with electronic games and Facebook updates, Smith headed out to the Lanier Olympic Venue three times a day to run, lift weights, and kayak for miles on the lake. “It motivates me just to come out here, make improvements, see what I can do and get better at it,” he said.
Coach Claudiu Ciur’s comments: “Emerson has made really big improvements and has gotten stronger. He is one of the future Olympic athletes, maybe in 2016 or 2020. He has not missed a practice. He is really quick. And he makes the group happy; he always has a smile.”

LLRC Youth Program grows

Participation in the Lake Lanier Rowing Club Youth Program is up and is expected to increase this fall. The club plans an informational session at the Lanier Olympic Venue boathouse at 6 p.m. Sept. 2.

Middle and high school students and their parents are invited to tour the facility, meet the coaching staff and learn about training and competition opportunities coming up.

Fifteen youths from area high schools are currently involved in the program. Students from North Hall, Flowery Branch, North Gwinnett, Collins Hill and Mill Creek high schools have enrolled, said LLRC Executive Director/Head Coach Jim Pickens.

He and assistant coach Nathan Mahan have been busy visiting schools to recruit potential rowers.

The fall season runs from Sept. 2 through November 12 and includes competition in the Lanier Night Sprints Sept. 25, Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga Nov. 6-7 and Head of the South in Augusta Nov. 13.

Cost is $300 per student, $250 per additional family member. Minimal regatta fees and uniform costs are extra.

More info: www.lakelanierrowing.org, 770 287-0077.