Patrick Pylvainen ’13: Rowing His Way to Victory

 Patrick Pylvainen ’13 has made a name for himself in the Lawrence crew world. He is currently the president of the crew club, which is pretty amazing since he started crew only three years ago. Crew is a tough sport and it requires dedication, waking up early, and a fondness of physical pain.
 

Much of Patrick’s practices take place on the erg, an indoor rowing machine used to simulate the action of rowing in a boat on the water. “I can’t, remember the longest distance I rowed on an erg, but for some of our longer pieces we do about a 15k,” Patrick told me. As a former high school crew member myself, 15k is no small feat. Not to mention, besides working out during crew practice, Patrick makes a point to go to the gym and Pilates as well.
 
One of Patrick’s recent achievements in crew took place at a regatta where he beat the fourth place boat by four seconds with his crew double Peter Ehlinger. “It was a pleasant surprise, but we had been working hard all fall season, trying to get as much water time as possible and also doing cross training, so we defiantly put in the work.” But crew is not all work, there are a lot of friendships to be made. Patrick mentions to me that it is a “great team”, and that is important seeing as they spend so much time together when they go off to regattas. To demystify any beliefs about it being a cult, it isn’t. According to Patrick, “I think the team shares some similarities like any group, but the world of rowing, as much as we love it, does not define us entirely.”
 
Not only is Patrick practicing on the erg and winning medals for Lawrence’s crew team, but he is running it as well. For Patrick being president of the crew team means running board meetings, making sure the team is running as it is supposed to, and acting as a primary contact for the university and other rowing clubs. “This year I have been trying to increase team participation and increase our visibility so we have some winter term event plans in the works!”
 
Patrick is doing a lot for the crew club, and he is staying fit doing it. Keep it up Patrick!