Joyce Mueller / Special to The Daily
FRISCO – A foursome of local Frisco Rowing Center master rowers won a collection of medals at last month’s U.S. Masters Rowing Championships in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Racing 1,000-meter races on the Grand River, former U.S. Olympic selection Peggy Bailey, Mary Jane (MJ) Wurster and a pair of octogenarians in Ted Mueller and Hans Wurster won the medals across single, doubles, quad and eights races.
The Frisco Rowing Center foursome raced in Grand Rapids after getting a bit of a later start out on Lake Dillon this June due to this spring’s lingering winter-like weather. But once out there, the Frisco rowers prepped for the Masters event rowing two to five times a week.
Once in Grand Rapids, it was a special year for the Frisco rowers, as Mueller and Hans Wurster, won gold in the octoboats eights and quads races and bronze in the double.
Hans’ wife MJ also excelled at the competition, defending her gold-medal in the single lightspeed competition. In all, 1,600 rowers from across the country competed across 2,100 events at the nationals competition.
Mueller said he and the Wursters prepared for the Masters races on their typical stretches of the lake, between Frisco Bay Marina and Giberson Bay or from the marina to Farmers Korner. These longer, 4,000- to 5,000-meter rowing routes at 9,000-plus-feet helped to build their endurance, which Ted said was an advantage over the competition for the first few days of races. The local rowers also built up their speed skills via 250- and 500-meter sprint distances on the lake.
“It’s special,” Mueller said of winning medals above the age of 80 with Hans Wurster at the nationals. “That’s why I wanted to do it this year and train for it, went through the winter time trying to get ready for it as well.”
Hans and MJ Wurster will race at the 2019 World Rowing Masters Regatta in Budapest, Hungary Sept. 11-15.
“Peggy and her teammates took home a collection of medals,” said Ted’s wife Joyce Mueller, who raced up and down the race course during nationals. “What a great sport to master. It is definitely a precision sport not that easy to master, so watching the Frisco Four, who had worked hard practicing early in the morning before the winds come up on Lake Dillon, with a collection of medals was a thrill I don’t often experience.”