Junior Will Nasr placed third in the highly competitive 2025 Ironmen Erg Classic Men’s High School 2000-meter indoor race, which featured 102 rowers from across New York and New Jersey. (Photo credits: John Nasr)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ramsey, New Jersey – Ridgewood Crew kicked off its 2025 rowing season with a strong team performance, claiming two bronze medals and placing 10 finishers in the top 10 at the 12th annual Ironmen Erg Classic hosted by the Don Bosco Preparatory High School. More than 550 youth rowers from 22 different clubs in New York and New Jersey competed at the indoor event. Ridgewood fielded 46 competitors — the fifth-largest total among all teams — from both middle and high school across seven categories.
The 2025 edition of the Ironmen Classic was its largest ever and two events, the Men’s Freshman/Novice and Men’s High School races, featured more than 100 rowers. Hundreds of friends, family, and rowing fans filled the Don Bosco gym to watch the day-long competition. Racing takes place on 20 individual rowing machines placed side by side, and can create an intense atmosphere at times as fans cheer on the virtual boat races projected on a big screen. This past Saturday was no exception.
Ridgewood Crew head coach Boris Roque-Alvarez, pointed out that the caliber and size of the Ironmen Erg Classic keeps growing each year, making it a stiffer challenge, especially since it serves as the first competition of the team’s spring season. “Each year this race gets bigger and the times get faster, so we see it as a great first test for our team and a valuable benchmark for where we stand heading into the spring season.”
The team’s most exciting highlight came in the last race of the day, the Men’s High School 2000-meter race. In a field that included 101 other competitors, Ridgewood junior Will Nasr had a heart-pounding comeback, furiously pulling into third place with less than 50 meters left.
Nasr also took home a bronze medal at the 2023 Ironmen Classic, rowing a 6:52.6 in the Men’s Freshman/Novice race.
This year, Nasr had found himself in seventh place after the first 500 meters, but then began steadily reeling in his competition. Notably, his last half of the race was more than seven seconds faster than his first half — and his last 500 meters was his fastest of the race. He ultimately claimed the bronze with a scorching time of 6:19.7, just .2 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher and less than seven seconds behind the winner.
This event also saw six other Ridgewood rowers finish in under seven minutes. Senior Lucas Evers had the team’s second-fastest row of the day (6:47.9), good enough for 26th place. Juniors Matt Moomjy (6:49.1), Sam Scharfenberg (6:52.6), Micahel Shkop (6:58.0), and Uhmjoo Han (6:59.4) all finished in the top half of the very competitive field. Tristan Riedel (6:51.0) had the fastest time for a Ridgewood sophomore and came in 34th.
Eighth grader Jaya Suri had the top finish for the Ridgewood girls’ team, taking fourth in the Women’s Middle School 1000-meter race (4:06.1), just seven seconds off the winning pace. Close behind her were eighth-grade teammates Lucia Krauza (4:11.2), who finished sixth overall, and Sophia Velichkova, who came in 10th (4:17.8).
In the Men’s Middle School 1000-meter race, which featured 58 rowers in total, eighth grader Evan Ahern finished 10th (3:49.3), just one spot ahead of Ridgewood teammate Byron Soung (3:52.7), who came in 11th.
Ridgewood placed two rowers in the top 10 in the Men’s High School Lightweight 2000-meter event. Junior Luciano Saladino surged into fifth place after a strong second half in his race (7:00.1). Fellow 11th grader Daniel Hept claimed 10th place (7:11.5) against the field of 50.
Junior Maya Ashwin and senior Julia Smith finished back to back in the Women’s High School Lightweight race, coming in 13th (8:37.5) and 14th place (8:39.2), respectively.
Ridgewood’s best team finish came in the combined Men’s Freshman/Novice 2000-meter event, where 101 rowers completed the race. Freshman Graham Richardson, who nabbed a silver at the 2024 Ironmen Men’s Middle School race, won bronze this year, coming in third among all 65 ninth graders (6:57.3) — and fourth overall in the event. Following him in fourth and fifth place among freshmen, respectively, were fellow Ridgewood teammates Kai Bissie (6:59.9) and David Pasternak (7:11.5).
In addition, two other rowers with ties to Ridgewood Crew put in standout performances on Saturday. Racing for the Passaic River Rowing Association, Paul Evers, father of the aforementioned Lucas, and Mark Riedel, father of Tristan, both placed in the top five in the Mens Masters 50-59 year old 2000-meter event. The elder Evers took home the silver with a red-hot time of 6:49.4 — less than 10 seconds behind the event winner, and a mere 1.5 seconds slower than his son’s time. Riedel pulled a 7:09.8, good enough for fifth in the Masters race and just under 19 seconds off his son’s pace.
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2025 Ironmen Erg Classic can be found at https://rccdn.cachefly.net/results/9408_895fb8b6-3f95-485b-b067-30d137481690.pdf
In the program’s 20-year history, Ridgewood Crew rowers have competed and excelled in both national and international competitions and its athletes have attracted interest from top rowing colleges and universities around the country. Ridgewood Crew offers several ways for you to experience our mission: join the team, volunteer, or donate. Student athlete programs begin with Learn-To-Row for middle schoolers. For more information contact Ridgewood Crew at http://www.ridgewoodcrew.com.
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