Ridgewood Crew Freshman Jaya Suri and Sophomore Wesley Richardson won their respective girls and boys Freshman/Novice 2000-meter erg races at the 2026 Ironmen Erg Classic indoor regatta.
(Photo credits: Reed Richardson)
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ramsey NJ, January 17, 2026, Ramsey, New Jersey – Ridgewood Crew launched its 2026 rowing season with double victory and six finishers in the top 10 at the 13th annual Ironmen Erg Classic hosted by the Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. This year’s event, the largest in its history, featured more than 600 middle school and high school rowers from 22 different clubs across New York and New Jersey.
The Ironmen Erg Classic kicks off the winter indoor racing season in the tri-state area, with the Don Bosco gym filling with hundreds of spectators to cheer on a day of individual racing on rowing machines. The competitors race side by side on 20-plus ergs in front of a cheering crowd as their progress in the virtual boat race is projected behind them on a big screen.
“This competition is especially challenging since it’s so close to the holiday break and we haven’t had as much time to prepare for the winter erg racing season,” said Ridgewood Crew head coach Boris Roque-Alvarez. “We faced off against some regional rowing clubs that bring as many as 100 rowers to this regatta, so to come away with two wins and numerous top 10 finishes is a very encouraging start to our year.”
Ridgewood’s highlights of the day came in its back-to-back victories in the Freshman/Novice 2000-meter races.
Freshman Jaya Suri, who came in fourth and just missed a medal in the middle school race at this regatta last year, cruised to victory this time around. Against a field of 35 other freshman and novice rowers, she quickly pulled away to an early lead and finished with a wire-to-wire victory (7:51.4). She outpaced the second place rower by more than seven seconds.
Less than ninety minutes later, Ridgewood scored its second gold medal, in the boys edition of the Freshman/Novice race. Sophomore Wesley Richardson, who qualified as a novice since he is in his first year of rowing competition, also surged to the front of a field of 111 rowers, taking command of the race immediately. His nearly 19-second margin of victory was the largest of any of the day’s youth races (6:32.7).
The team’s next generation notched some strong performances in the middle school competitions, where rowers race in shorter, 1000-meter competitions.
Kicking off the day, Ridgewood’s Zoe Rosenbaum scored a ninth-place finish against a field of 40 seventh and eighth-grade girls (4:08.2). Teammate Mia Velichkova came in 15th (4:20.6) and Chloe Yela finished 19th (4:31.2).
Lucas Martin was the team’s top middle school rower in the boys 1000-meter race, coming in 22nd (3:50.3).
Senior Maya Ashwin surged to a 10th-place finish in the 2000-meter lightweight girls race. Sitting in 18th after the first 500, she dialed up her speed over the last half of the race, passing five competitors in the last 500 meters (8:13.3).
Two Ridgewood rowers made the top 10 in the boys lightweight race. Seniors James Ryan and Uhmjoo Han finished seventh (7:03.3) and ninth place (7:04.4), respectively, after both showed off their own final 500-meter sprint speed. Fellow Ridgewood seniors Paul Hallowell (7:08.5) and Luciano Saladino (7:08.5) tied for 14th place, with sophomore Isaac Reynolds just over a second behind in 17th place (7:09.8).
In the final race of the day, which featured a record 116 rowers, Ridgewood just missed a medal by two seconds. Senior Will Nasr, who made the podium as a freshman and junior at this regatta, came in fourth against the incredibly stacked field (6:18.4). Junior Tristan Riedel was the team’s next-highest finisher, coming in 11th (6:33.1). Seniors Andrii Onizhuk and Michael Shkop rounded out Ridgewood’s top 20 finishers, finishing 17th (6:38.9) and 18th (6:40.9), respectively.
Full times and results for Ridgewood Crew at the 2026 Ironmen Erg Classic can be found at https://regatta.time-team.nl/ironmen/2026/results/events.php
In the program’s 20-plus years, Ridgewood Crew has 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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