By Sapna Pathak
Staff Writer

From left to right, Concord’s Tory Billings, Katie Ring, Madison Daniels and Sara Wilkinson walk their boat to the launch prior to the women’s varsity 8+ race on Saturday, Oct. 14. (Bow Times/Bruce Preston)

They may share a boathouse, spend daily practices together and even help each other out with techniques and tips. But when competition day comes, these rivals show their true form.

For the crew teams at Concord High, Manchester Central High and The Derryfield School, building relationships during practices ­ and housing their boats together ­ has helped bolster the desire to be the best in the boathouse.

“This is a home race, this is our house,” said rower Lindsey Lafond. “There’s a huge rivalry between Central and Derryfield and us. We share a boathouse so there’s big-time competition and bragging rights up for grabs here.”

Lafond’s thoughts were echoed by her teammates at this year’s New Hampshire Championship Regatta held on Saturday, Oct. 14. More than 1,500 rowers from collegiate and high school teams showed up to compete in the largest regatta in northern New England.

The Amoskeag Rowing Club of Hooksett hosted the tournament, which was held at Memorial Field in Pembroke. Rowers competed in four-person and eight-person races along the Merrimack River.

In the women’s junior novice 4+ race, Concord’s Amy Ladds, Sarah Graff, Phoebe Axtman, Nu Ferguson and coxswain Molly Aitken finished in third with a time of 19 minutes, 57 seconds.

In the women’s junior 4+ finals, the Crimson Tide A boat finished fifth with a time of 19:07. Coxswain Lafond led rowers Holly Denoncourt, Isabelle Cotton, Meghan Keach and Jessica Corkum in boat A. Boat B finished in 20:35, housing Victoria Billings, Kristin Cook, Abby Comstock-Gay and Ginn Fang.

In the women’s junior novice 8+ race, Concord placed sixth with Ladds, Graff, Alexandra Marcotte, Sophia Dalterio, Tessa Feldvebel, Ferguson, Anna O’Connell and Ashley Ardinger, who finished in 20:26.

In the women’s junior 8+ finals, Alyssa Carlisle, Comstock-Gay, Heather Landry, Victoria Selesnick, Carolyn Murphy, Stephanie Caron, Rebecca Hey, Lucy Chase and Fang finished in second place. Concord’s B boat took home 15th in the same race.

In the men’s junior novice 8+ race, John Barbarodo, Ben Morris, Jeff Lane, Will Richmond, Tyler Jappe, Keaton Gagne, Brian Varnell, Robbie Shartner and Sam Proctor led the team to second place, finishing in 17:06. The Crimson Tide B boat, finishing fourth, was rowed by Dan Shea, Gordon Ellinwood, Trevor Fairbank, Josh Lanney, John Murphy, Peter Weatheril, Kevin Ring, Carl Bjork and Ben Savard.

In the men’s junior novice 8+ finals, Barbarodo, Morris, Lane, Richmond and Shartner finished third with a time of 18:58.

In the men’s junior 8+ finals, Josh Moses, Jim Riley, Craig Levy, Casey Fox, Dan Cassell, Alex Savard, Tom Akey, Dylan Ladds and Tristan Donovan drove boat A to a first-place finish.

Boat B finished sixth thanks to the efforts of Dan Miller, Ben Broadbent, Gerard Samson, Tim O’Connor, Brennan Haydon, Cooper Waterman, Alex Terry and Garrett Vanacore.

In the men’s junior 4+ finals, Miller, Broadbent, Samson, O’Connor and Donovan finished in 17:56, good for fourth place. In boat B, an 18:45 finish earned Haydon, Waterman, Terry, Vanacore and Evan Kinsler ninth place.