Welch wins gold at RC Henley Regatta

Newtown resident Lindsay Welch (pictured, center) was part of the gold medal winning entry of Vesper Boat Club at the 127th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta held recently in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada.
With Welch rowing in the No. 4 seat, the Vesper women won the prestigious HIH Presidents Trophy in the Senior Women’s Eight Event. In winning the Aug. 6 event, the group outpaced the New York Athletic Club by two seconds.
"It was a tough race," stated Welch. "Going in, we thought we could do well and we just gave it our all, rowed our best race.
"It was a great moment at the end."
The Henley is the largest rowing regatta staged in North America and regularly welcomes teams from more than 125 clubs across three continents. During the scholastic season, Welch rows for Purdue University. In order to stay in tune, she recently joined the highly regarded Vesper Boat Club, which is based on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.
This has been a very busy summer for Welch. In June, she trained with the United States National U23 Team in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Though not selected for the boat that competed in the recently completed 2009 World Championships near Prague in the Czech Republic, Welch is optimistic about her chances in 2010.
“The U23 camp was a great experience that gave me the chance to row with some of the best collegiate and post-graduate rowers in the country. It was an intense, ultra-competitive and challenging month in which I learned a great deal about myself and the sport.”
Over the past three years, both Welch and the Purdue Crew Team have enjoyed a great deal of success on the water. Last spring, Welch was selected as the Most Valuable Oarswoman by the Purdue Women’s Team. She was also named to the 2009 American Collegiate Rowing Association All-American First Team after her junior season.
This fall, Welch will begin her senior year at Purdue. She is anxious to return to school and begin training on the Wabash River for what she hopes will be a very successful campaign for the Boilermakers. With the loss of just one senior from the top Varsity 8 Boat, Welch expects big things from herself and her teammates this year.
Highlights of the upcoming fall and spring seasons include the Milwaukee River Challenge, Head of the Rock (Rockford, IL), the San Diego Classic, the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA ) Championships in Oak Ridge, and the all important Dad Vail Regatta held in Philadelphia each May.
A 2006 graduate of Stuart Country Day School in nearby Princeton, Welch is the oldest daughter of Rick and Susan Welch, who live with her siblings, Matt and Kelly, in Upper Makefield.