Lake Las Vegas Rowing Club offers free classes

The Lake Las Vegas Master Association and the Lake Las Vegas Rowing Club will hold free one-hour rowing classes at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at the 320-acre lake in Henderson. The classes will be part of a competitive rowing (also known as crew) program, the first of its kind in the state.

The program will include juniors (eighth to 12th grades) and masters (rowers at least 21).

Practices will be held in the afternoon for juniors and evenings for masters. Programs will be based at the new Lake Las Vegas Boathouse near Seasons Market in MonteLago Village at the residential, golf and resort master-planned community.

Crew programs at Lake Las Vegas will be coached by Jim Andersen, a longtime rowing coach from Marin Rowing in Larkspur, Calif., and Riversport in Oklahoma City. He has coached multiple national championship teams and many of his former athletes have gone on to successful college teams, and a few have become Olympic athletes.

“We’re fortunate to have someone with Jim’s proven teaching experience as our first rowing coach,” said Seth Ahlborn, president of the new Lake Las Vegas Rowing Club. “He has nurtured programs from humble beginnings to become rowing powerhouses in Rowing Junior and Master Championships.”

One of the initial partnerships LLVRC has fostered is with Nevada State College. Based upon strong student interest, the college will launch a rowing club this fall that will be the school’s first competitive sports program. This NSC club team will be entirely funded by donor and community support.

Rowing is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, and Las Vegas has been the only metropolitan area among the top 25 populated areas without a rowing program.

For high school boys and girls, rowing provides a rigorous competitive sport — free from injuries — with collegiate benefits. For women, there are opportunities for NCAA scholarships at more than 145 colleges and universities offering rowing through the enforcement of Title XI since 1997; for men, there are recruitment opportunities to Pac-12, Ivy League and many other schools.

The Lake Las Vegas Rowing Club was established to promote the sport of amateur rowing and educate and train residents – particularly youth – throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

The LLVRC is a nonprofit corporation, founded by nine local ex-rowers and community.

For more information, visit www.llvrc.org or contact Jim Andersen at Jim@LLVRC.org or 415-309-9421.