In two weeks, one of the men’s teams will plop their boat into the Charles as participants, joining 8,000 athletes from around the world in an event that brings 300,000 fans to Boston every October.

Not bad for a rowing club that’s a little over a year old.

In spring 2010, a group of Bedford students got the idea to start a new high school crew club for freshmen to senior athletes interested in rowing on an organized team.

But crew is not NHIAA affiliated in New Hampshire, so the teens had to take it upon themselves to put their plans to action.

“I think the hardest part was making things happen,” said BHS senior Jacqueline Durand, one of the original students pushing for the club, and a women’s team co-captain. “For a while, it was just an idea. We got our parents involved and the principal, then we started advertising and realizing, ‘Hey, people actually want to do this.’”

With the help of parents and school administrators, the club quickly came together with about 28 rowers in its inaugural spring season.

Today, the Bedford Crew Club, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides about 80 athletes coaching, equipment and the facilities they need, through the efforts of a 12-member club board and the enthusiasm of the rowers and their families.

That first spring, the club started with dry land training only, learning proper rowing techniques using ergs, or stationary rowing machines.

“When we initially started, there were no boats, no promises you’re going to be rowing on water or anything. It was more the idea of it,” said Colby Rondeau, a senior co-captain of the men’s team.

Even without the opportunity to get on the river, word of the Bedford Crew Club spread rapidly around school, Rondeau said.

“As time progressed, people started hearing whispers about the team,” Rondeau said. “We all worked together and got the name ‘Bedford Crew’ out to the school.”

By the fall season – crew is a two-season sport – the club raised enough money to get boats, oars and all other necessary equipment for practicing on the river.

Seventy-eight rowers signed up for the fall season, said Rick Durand, president of the Bedford Crew Club. Collecting and buying boats from around the state, the board got the rowers out on the Merrimack River, in an area based out of the Amoskeag Rowing Club in Hooksett.

“We bought a couple; we called them ‘boats that float,’” Durand said with a laugh. “They weren’t really racers, but we had to get something safe for the kids to be in. Eventually, we got our fleet up pretty good, so they have enough to go out at a regatta and compete.”

Rondeau said his team’s main boat for the fall 2010 season was a wooden model used by the UNH crew team in the 1970s, in which one of the crew moms had competed and had donated to the club.

“It’s probably one of the best looking boats out there, all wood, it’s beautiful,” Rondeau said. “It was incredible because we had something so old and so heavy where other teams had these lightweight boats. You’re more stable when you’re heavy, which was good for us starting out.”

In their first season, the men’s and women’s teams competed in novice races against schools around New Hampshire and Massachusetts – not to mention a couple of college teams.

Despite the fact that crew is not NHIAA affiliated, it’s picking up popularity in the Granite State, Rondeau said, as Bedford joins teams from Manchester Central, Derryfield, Lebanon, Concord and Hanover at many of the regattas.

This season, with a year of experience, the club now qualifies a number of boats for varsity races, Rondeau said, where competition is fierce.

“Once you hit varsity, they separate colleges and high school at the regattas,” Rondeau said. “You look at these kids in college doing it, and they’re huge. Football players are big, but nobody really looks at how big rowers actually are.”

Rondeau, a member of the men’s team selected to compete at the Head of the Charles Regatta at the end of the month, said the physical demand of crew is one of its most rewarding parts.

But nothing compares to how good it’s felt to watch the club develop, Rondeau said.

“Looking back on it, I just say, ‘Wow, this team has evolved,’ and it gives me a lot more appreciation for how this is going,” Rondeau said.

It hasn’t been easy or inexpensive to get the club where it is today. Each year, the club has to raise about $50-55,000 in operating fees, including boating fees, coaching and regatta fees, plus another $30,000-$40,000 a year for equipment, Durand said.

Rowers pay $400 a season to compete, and are obligated to raise another $100 through a variety of fundraisers, including magazine sales, car washes, burger sales and yard work.

On Oct. 7, the club held a fundraising “Erg-a-thon” in the Bedford High School parking lot where sponsors supported rowers for 55 minutes of training.

Though some rowers participate in other high school sports throughout the year, a handful of the club focuses on rowing all year, Rondeau said.

“Some people will row in the spring if they play fall sports or vice versa,” Jacqueline Durand said. “There’s a good chunk of us that are strictly crew…”

Because there’s no feeder program for the sport, everyone who joins the crew club starts out at the same level, Durand said, which is a big draw for beginners.

Rowers put 10-15 hours of practice into crew six days a week, ranging form sessions on land or on water, Durand said, and everyone that is physically able to compete in a regatta, does.

Regattas can be all day events, as the club travels around New Hampshire and Massachusetts to compete. The parents are big part of the club’s success, Rick Durand said.

“It’s critical to have the parents with you. There’s so many committees, so many things we have to do,” Durand said.

It’s all worth it when you consider how far the club has come, Durand said.

“Just looking at the times they’ve cut off on some of their races from the previous year, it’s incredible when you watch their erg scores,” Durand said.

His daughter Jacqueline said the Bedford Crew Club has been one of her favorite experiences in high school.

“I’m so thankful I did it; it’s the best thing that’s happened to me,” she said. “I absolutely love it because it’s the ultimate team sport. … in a boat, you have to go at the same time, you have to make sure you’re all on at once, everyone has to be together. It’s a form of unity you don’t get in any other sport.”

Now that the Bedford Crew Club has its oars wet, there is only room to grow, Rick Durand said.

“Now I think we’d just like to get more competitive and to be more competitive in some of the races,” Durand said. “I’d like to see more kids rowing in college, and I wouldn’t mind seeing some get scholarships. It’s doable. We have some really bright kids doing crew.”

For more information about the Bedford Crew Club, visit www.bedfordcrew.org

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