2011 UVRF Coaches

Rowan Carroll

Rowan began her rowing career at Mount Holyoke College in 1989 with Head Coach Fred Cressman. She went on to captain the rowing team at the University of Nottingham, England before competing for England in 1994 and 1995 rowing for Notts County Rowing Association. She moved to Sydney, Australia in 1995 to row with elite coach Tim McLaren, where she competed in the inaugural race at the Olympic rowing course in Penrith. Following her return to England she rowed for the British National team from 1998 to 2001 in both sweep and sculling events. She competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Regatta; 1998 to 2001 World Cup events; the 1998 World Championships; 2000 Olympic Games; 1997 and 1998 Royal Henley Regatta and many other national and international events. Rowan moved to Hanover in 2003 where she is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Redpath. She has been rowing and coaching with UVRF since 2004, and coached at Hanover High from 2004 to 2006.

Thom Collins

Thom Collins is a resident of Saxtons River, VT during the academic year and Grafton, VT in the summer. He began rowing at the University of Rhode Island where he was both an oarsman and a coxswain.  Upon graduating, he took up sculling at Narragansett Boat Club in Providence, RI.  It is at NBC where he began coaching in 1992.  He also served as NBC’s Head Masters Coach and the director of its Learn to Row program.  He started a rowing program at East Greenwich High School in East Greenwich, RI and he is currently building a rowing program at Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, VT.  He has experience in coaching youth, collegiate, and Masters rowers in both sweep and sculling boats. His crews have medaled at The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, USRA Youth National Championship, USRA Club National Championship, USRA Masters National Championship and Head of the Charles Regatta.  He works with all levels of rowers: novice, intermediate and experienced.

Kevin Cotter

Kevin has been an oarsman since 1981 and a coach since 1986.  His coaching career started in Buffalo, NY at West Side Rowing Club and the Nichols School.  From that position, he moved into collegiate rowing and became the first head coach of Hamilton College Men's and Women's Rowing.  After a few years at Hamilton, his family relocated to Hanover, NH in 1999 where he has been actively involved in Dartmouth’s rowing program. Kevin’s coaching experience in the Upper Valley includes Head Coach at North Country Rowing Club, Assistant Varsity Lightweight Coach at Dartmouth College, and Director of Dresden Competitive Rowing Club.

Jason Cottingham

Jason began his rowing career in 2003 with The University of Alabama club rowing program. During his rowing career, he excelled to become the president of the team in 2005 and represented The Univerisity of Alabama in multiple Head of the Charles and Dad Vail Regattas. He spent the summer of 2006 in Boston competing for Community Rowing Inc.

in the 2006 USRowing National Championships as well as the 2006 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Jason began coaching at Alabama in 2007 and co-founded a community adult rowing program, the Black Warrior Rowing Club, to serve the Tuscaloosa and Northport, AL communities. Jason is completing his Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering and will be moving to the Upper Valley in June to coach the UVRF Competitive Women's and Men's programs and to serve as a volunteer assistant coach for the Dartmouth Men’s Lightweight Rowing Program beginning in the Fall, 2010. Jason is a firm believer that good, technical rowing must be mastered, and is the foundation for gaining long-term boat speed.

Erika Dade

Erika got hooked on rowing in 1986 while in graduate school. Then, in Seattle, she rowed with Lake Washington Rowing Club for 5 years, competing regionally, and in US and Canadian Masters Nationals. Following a decade of living abroad, she moved to the Upper Valley and returned to rowing, both sweeps and sculls, with the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation. In the last season, Erika was Co-Captain of the Women’s Competitive team, helped organize UVRF’s fall Junior Rowing program, and has recently joined the UVRF board. Spring 2011 was her first season helping Heidi Lange, as Asst. Novice Girls Coach for Hanover High Crew.

Liz Harrison

Liz began rowing in 1986 at the University of Massachusetts, where she rowed for four years.  Upon graduation, Liz accepted a position at Trinity College, where she coached the novice women's team.   The following year, Liz returned to coach the UMass novice women's team, during which she acquired many valuable skills; most notably how to drive a boat trailer several hundred miles on very little sleep. After spending many years in North Carolina in the wedding industry, Liz relocated back to New England with her husband and twin girls. She is happy to be involved in rowing again, and very much looking forward to coaching at UVRF.

Heidi Lange

Heidi’s introduction to rowing came through a community program offered to her high school swim team, which was the launching pad to a collegiate experience at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

After a period of time spent relocating to different areas of the U.S., all of which offered educational or career opportunities, but not necessarily good water for rowing, she returned to New England with a young family and a renewed commitment to early mornings and the camaraderie of the sport. She has been rowing with Upper Valley Rowing Foundation ever since in sweeps and sculls, captained the competitive team for a year, and serves on the UVRF Board of Directors as an officer and programming co-chair. Heidi has coached the Advanced sweep program at UVRF, JV Girls at Hanover High School, and most recently Novice Girls Crew at HHS. She is also an avid alpine and nordic skier, a volunteer coach with the Ford Sayre BKL nordic team, master’s swimmer and coach for the Upper Valley Aquatic Center’s UV Rays team, and School Board member in Lyme, but her passion is rowing. She particularly enjoys working with novices to develop a strong technical foundation and a love of the sport!

Chuck Nagle

Chuck walked on as a coxswain his freshman year at Dartmouth and loved the idea of "yelling at people in boats." Since then he has coached just about  every group around from Freshmen Lightweight Men at Princeton to Varsity Women at Dartmouth to National Teams (Women's National Team and Junior Men's Team) to Master's Women to HHS Girls and Novice Boys. Crews he has coached have finished first in many events including the Eastern Sprints, Head of the Charles, Canadian Henley Regatta, Women's Masters National Championships and he assisted with the first Junior Men's Eight to win a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in 1987.  Having said all that, Chuck's main goal in coaching is to provide a positive, fun, challenging and competitive experience for anyone he coaches.  Setting expectations (personal and team) and striving to achieve them is very important to him. He believes that anyone who is willing to work at it can become a better rower (and teammate). He also believes that you get out of it what you put into it.

Carin Reynolds

Carin Reynolds began her rowing career in 1982 during her sophomore summer at Dartmouth in the precursor to the UVRF Learn to Row program. After two successful years rowing for the Dartmouth Crew, including an undefeated varsity season and medaling at the Women's Sprints and Head of the Charles, she moved on to the United States Lightweight Women's National Rowing Team, and won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1984. She has competed and medaled nationally and internationally in both sweep and sculling boats at Nationals, Worlds, the Goodwill Games, the World University Games and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Carin took a 10 year hiatus from rowing during the 1990s to go to law school and live and work in New York City, but came to her senses in 1999 and returned with her family to the Upper Valley where she has been rowing, training and competing in both sweeps and sculls ever since. Carin's passion is introducing non-rowers to crew, and coaching novices.

Carin's coaching resume includes: Dartmouth College- Women's Novice Coach 1986-88; Hanover High School-Girls Novice Coach 1999-present. She's been coaching the UVRF Learn to Row Sweep program and Sculling Clinics since 2002.

Mike van Beuren

Mike van Beuren first rowed at St. Mark's School in 1969. Following an appearance as stroke of the USA's straight four at Junior World's (1970) he rowed for a short time at Penn. For the last 10 springs Mike has assisted with the St. John's College, Annapolis Crew program where he has taught sweep and sculling, primarily for novices. Mike and (wife) Mary live in Hartland, VT and now commute to the Connecticut River where they continue to train as scullers. More recently, the van Beurens have competed at head races and at the CRASH-B's where Mike took the hammer for 55-59 lightweights in February, 2008.