University Traditions: Roth Regatta

By Rosie Atkinson, Stony Brook University, USA

The Roth Regatta is an annual tradition at Stony Brook University held in either late April or early May in the Roth Pond on campus. It involves the production of either a Speedster boat or a Yacht boat made entirely out of cardboard, tape and paint. Teams of current students and alumni gather to make and decorate a boat to either compete with 4 rowers (yacht) or 2 rowers (speedster). Every year has a theme and this year for the 36th annual Roth Regatta the theme was Greek mythology.

This year the international exchange students came together to make a boat. We nominated a captain who checked us in on the day and organised the time and dates of meetings, as well as a co-captain who took control of the boat. As well as 4 rowers, we chose 4 pushers who would push the boat from the starting line into the water. The design we went for for our boat was a Trojan Horse. To make production easier for us, the exchange office provided us with cardboard, tape, scissors, spray paint and headpieces.

The boat race was held on Friday 2nd May by the Roth pond on campus. A team member checked our boat in between 10-11.30am and collected wristbands (required to show we signed the waiver to participate) and t-shirts for our rowers and pushers. The first races were the speedster races which began at 1pm, followed by an intermission at 2.30pm and then the beginning of the yacht races at 3pm. Whilst waiting for your heat to begin, free food and drinks were available as well as a visit from the university mascot, Wolfie, and a tshirt cannon distribution more free shirts.

When it was time for our boat to compete, our rowing and pusher team carried it to the edge of the Roth pond where we lined up with 3 other yacht boats. The rowers then got into the boat and upon the end of the countdown the pushers pushed us into the water to start the race.

Our team came 2nd in our heat which meant that unfortunately we didn’t receive a medal or progress to the next round. The final round consisted of the 4 boats from that category (yacht or speedster) with the fastest times who then competed one final time for the trophy. Despite not winning our heat, all of the rowers got given a special towel upon completion of the race.

The Roth Regatta has been a highlight of my time at Stony Brook and I definitely recommend any students going to Stony Brook in the spring semester to compete in the race. It was not only a fun and free activity, but allowed me to meet and get to know the other exchange students from around the world.