True grit: suburban rowers find their stroke on Chicago River

The Chicago River is dirty, so polluted that metal signs line its banks warning that the murky green water is not safe for “any human body contact.”

Huge wooden boards, trash, dead animals, and fecal bacteria, among other things, swirl in the river. Yet it is still the beloved home of a tight-knit group of suburban women who live for every moment of their time there.

They find solace in the surprising quiet of the river, and self-esteem in the realization that they are conquering the many ways the river physically challenges them.

These are the women of the New Trier masters rowing team, an eclectic group that ranges from beginners to former college rowers who are stay-at-home moms, executives, business owners and politicians. There are a group of about 25 and they range in age from 36 to 73. The majority are from the North Shore, but they attract rowers from throughout the area, including Barrington.

Now they're gearing up for their summer season, which begins the first week of June.

“It's a rare treat with these women,” said 58-year-old Chris Rivard of Glenview, who owns an interior design firm, Christine Rivard Interiors, and had never rowed competitively until she joined the team five years ago. “There is a lot of wealth in this group, but the pretension is not there. There's really not bickering. No one is prissy.

“It's just really good people who have come together and found this love (of rowing) and have become really good friends in the process. I mean, if one of us gets injured, immediately people are setting up a meal train. We socialize together and we're teammates but we're also competitive. For me, it's been a phenomenal experience.”

With few competitive and team-oriented athletic outlets for women in their age group, these women speak of how lucky and grateful they are for the experience.

“It's doing something completely new in mid-life,” said 55-year-old Penny Lanphier, who has been a member of the village board of Winnetka and began rowing with the team in 2010. “It's nice to know that when you're middle-age and in your 50s, you can do something to really challenge yourself, rather than being over-the-hill and a has-been.”

The women use eight- and four-man shells that belong to the New Trier High School crew team and row at least twice a week, and sometimes more if they are preparing for a competition. They'll take off from the Skokie Park District Dammrich boat launch near Oakton Street and McCormick Boulevard and row north to the majestic Baha'i Temple in Wilmette or as far south as downtown Chicago and beyond.

The team has competed in regattas in Boston, Chattanooga, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, and throughout the Midwest.

“I think my skills have really improved over the years and the fun for me is the competitive part of it and the adrenaline rush,” said 52-year-old Reaney Kunkler, a stay-at-home mom who joined the team in 2012. She's one of the strokes (best rower) for the team's top boat. “It is a good workout and I love the camaraderie of the team, but I really like the regattas and getting to compete.”

For most of these women, the like is more like a deep love. It takes love to put up with the Chicago River, to put up with early spring rows when it's so cold that chunks of ice float past the shell. Love is the reason they row in difficult conditions.

Love is the reason they don't bat an eye at their work conditions. Nothing is handed to them, and they must do all the heavy lifting themselves. Literally.

They carry the shell from the boat launch parking lot all the way down a long, steep hill to the pier. They raise it over their heads and walk slowly in step, much like they row in perfect harmony on the water.

Oars must be walked down the hill one by one, too.

At the end of their grueling practices, often with calluses on their hands ripped and bleeding and muscles spent, they hike up the hill to return their equipment.

From January until about March, the weather gets too brutal to row outdoors, but there's no break.

“In the winter, we row here, in the tanks, on the ergs,” said 62-year-old coach Hope Poor while standing in the boat house. She shares coaching responsibilities with Sandy Culver, who rowed in college at Flagler in Florida and helps coach the high school rowing teams at New Trier.

There is a room in the boat house that features a couple of long, slender pool tanks that allow rowers to use oars to practice their strokes.

“It is (dedication) and it's hard work (to row year-round). But these women love it,” said Poor, who rowed in college at Dartmouth and also coaches at New Trier with Culver. “Most women this age who are into being fit are going to their classes and getting their fitness that way. This is a sport that people can pick up even if they've never done it before and they can continue to do it late into life.

“With rowing, you can get the fitness and the camaraderie and the competition, if you want it. I don't know if there's any other sport that's like that at this age. I think the team aspect is probably the best part for these women. They really love that. They are just really, really close-knit.”

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