Hartford Magazine: Rediscover the Connecticut River: Picture a waterfront promenade and new riverside trails to explore. Cross those bridges. Grab an oar. Learn more about the lore.
By LEONARD FELSON
HARTFORD MAGAZINE
Excerpt: Four suburban women, three in their early 60s, the other in her late 40s, are rowing on machines inside the Greater Hartford Jaycees Community Boat House at Riverside Park in Hartford one dreary morning this past February. With weekday classes early mornings, mid-mornings and early evenings, these recreational rowers are gearing up to paddle on the Connecticut River this spring.
“Keep going,” yells instructor Hector Diaz, 27, as he counts down one of three 14-minute sets. Thanks to Riverfront Recapture’s wide-ranging rowing program, Diaz and the four women are among thousands of residents from the region who make rowing on the Connecticut part of their weekly routine.
Diaz, who discovered how much he loves rowing as a high school student, is a member of a Hartford adult men’s racing team, which won its event in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston last fall.
Bryan Pape, director of Riverfront Recapture’s rowing program, looks on, the river out the glass windows as flat as glass this particular day.
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