Dad Vail Regatta Kicks Off Its 80th Year
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's been an iconic sporting event in Philadelphia for eighty years. Now called the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta, the 2,000-meter course takes over the Schuylkill River for two days.
More than 100 schools and 3,500 rowers are taking part in the largest collegiate rowing competition in North America.
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"It's really the ultimate team sport," said Sydney Holgado, a New Jersey native, who now rows for the University of California Berkeley.
Holgado is familiar with this course.
"It's really empowering all these really strong women I get to be around all the time. Really great," she said.
That's an experience Jim Hanna, president of the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee, says all athletes should be able to experience.
Next year, the regatta will, for the first time, offer adaptive rowing for collegiate para-rowers.
"It'll be life changing for them," he said.
Nick Burns, a sophomore at Villanova University, knows that firsthand as he's fairly new to the sport.
"[These guys on the team] called me up at the activities fair and said, 'You're tall,' and the rest is history. I love it," Burns said.
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It's equally fulfilling for spectators who filled the stands.
Chris Louglin came to cheer on his freshman daughter, Grace, whose college choice depended in part on a solid rowing program.
"She decided on Drexel. It's a lot of hard work but being able to come to a year-end event like this is what it's all about."
The regatta ends on Saturday.
Kelly Drive between the Strawberry Mansion Bridge and Fountain Green is closed until 7 p.m. Saturday.