This time last year, ‘Salty Oar’ took home the St. Peter’s Fiesta women’s seine boat race championship in utterly dominant fashion.
In what was their debut summer at the event, scuttler Rick Miles, captain Dianne Parisi, coxswain Suzanne Clerkin and their brand new crew made it look easy.
This Friday evening back at Pavilion Beach, Salty Oar was back to defend their title. And it while it wasn’t as effortless of a showing, the result remained the same.
Once again rowing the Santa Maria boat, Salty Oar pulled ahead of worthy challenger ‘Backlash’ — by far the most experienced crew in the race — by a couple of seats just before the half-mile turn. Their lead grew a bit on the home stretch, but Backlash made a late push to make things extremely interesting as both crews frantically pressed for the beach.
It wasn’t quite a photo finish, but about as close as you can get to one, with Salty Oar ultimately defending their crown in an instant classic. ‘Boats and Barbells’ — which earned their spot in the finals via a two-boat semifinal re-race against ‘Rowgue’ earlier this week — wasn’t far behind in third, either.
“We were pushing extra basically from the get-go. This was a completely different race than last year from the start,” said Parisi. “It looked like on the turn we were all just about at the same area, and then coming back we were maybe a half boat ahead. It was just unbelievable; I’m just so proud of these girls, I cannot say enough.”
Parisi and the rest of her crew had virtually zero experience going into last year’s races. But their CrossFit background and overall competitive nature won out, propelling them to a miraculous week in the Gloucester waters.
This time around, they were certainly more prepared — and they needed every bit of that extra practice and cohesiveness leading up to the final race.
“Our focus this year was really getting in sync together, and of course we worked hard in the offseason all year as well,” added Parisi. “We had that one year under our belt and it was just a matter of taking the chemistry and the grit and the heart that we all have and making us as one.
“We just wanted to come back and have fun,” she continued, “but of course everybody wants to win. It was a new year, a new race, and we did it. I’m so proud of everyone.”
Joining Parisi, Miles and Clerkin on the winning boat was the exact same crew as last year: Addy Fenton, Jordy Fenton, Janelle Parker, Brandi Deon, Jenn Giovanucci, Kerri Fadden, Lori Sullivan, Kate Lefevre and Brianna Lysiak. Much of the crew trains at the same CrossFit gym and have visibly fallen in love with this traditional event.
Friday’s race marked the 30th anniversary of the women’s seine boat competition at Fiesta, although there was no event held during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Salty Oar becomes the first crew to win at least two straight competitions since, go figure, Backlash did it in 2019 and again in 2022.
“Our coach Suzanne (Clerkin) is amazing and Rick (Miles) is awesome,” added Parisi. “We just have so much faith in both of them and they really helped us get this.”