Shell game

A rowing festival attracts some 1,800 athletes, including Olympic hopefuls, to Newport Beach.Rowing teams from all over California and from as far away as Connecticut took to the water Sunday for the 18th annual Newport Autumn Rowing Festival.

More than 1,800 rowers competed in 36 events, navigating a 2.7-mile a course that took them from the west end of Lido Isle, under the Coast Highway and on to the finish line at the Newport Aquatic Center.

“It was intense,” said 15-year-old Charlotte Kroeger of Costa Mesa. Kroeger competed at the junior varsity level on an eight-person shell. She is a member of the Newport Aquatic Center rowing team. “It was long and hard, but it was totally worth every second of it.”

Kroeger’s boat finished in seventh place, but she said her team felt satisfied with the performance.

“We’ve worked hard,” she said. “What our team says is no regrets -- every race is a good race.”

Though rowing is often a team sport that demands a tremendous amount of cohesiveness, there are also one-man shells.

Newport Aquatic Center rowers Tom Williamson and Luis Tapia both earned first place in their categories, men’s open single and men’s lightweight single, respectively.

Williamson said he rowed in college and, after moving to Newport Beach, took up the sport again.

“I’m an individual that likes competition,” he said. “It felt great [to win]. This is the first competition in a single that I’ve won in the fall.”

Tapia was born and raised in Mexico and moved to Newport Beach to train with rowing coach Xeno Muller, who is also Williamson’s coach. Muller won a gold medal for rowing in the 1996 Olympics and a silver in the 2000 Olympics.

“I left everything in Mexico to come here and row,” Tapia said. He said he is training for the world championships, which is the step before Olympic qualifications. He said he hopes to compete in the 2008 Olympics in China. “I came here with Xeno [Muller] because I think he knows the way to do it -- he has two medals.”

Newport Aquatic Center coach and event organizer Eden Broggi said she anticipates that next year’s event will be even bigger than this year’s.

“This event is really growing, and as the years go on it’s going to become one of the premiere events,” she said.

The autumn festival is the largest fundraiser for the center’s youth programs, but this year the center partnered with the John Wayne Cancer Foundation to help raise funds and awareness about cancer.

Keith Munemitsu, program director for the foundation, said his group is working with the Newport Aquatic Center to educate youth about cancer.

“They have access to the children, and we have access to the knowledge,” Munemitsu said.

The foundation’s leaders set up a booth at Sunday’s event selling stylish T-shirts adorned with the foundation’s logo. They also applied temporary tattoos to many of the attendees, some reading “Heart,” some “Courage” and some showing the group’s logo.

Ethan Wayne, the son of John Wayne and executive director of the foundation, said it’s important to educate children about skin cancer, especially those who participate in outdoor sports and activities.

“One of our programs is education and awareness for these young people because it can make a difference,” he said.

For more information on the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, visit www.jwcf.org.

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at (714) 966-4625 or lindsay.sandham@latimes.com.

DOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / DAILY PILOT A Xavier University team chases several other crews after passing under the Lido Bridge during the women’s junior novice eight race at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival. Organizers say the event is becoming a premiere rowing competition. 20051107ipk8hzkn20051107ipk8ttkn20051107ipk8q5kn