Off the beaten path: Few know location of Illinois rowing site

Apr. 14—FARMER CITY — An area racing hub of sorts with its fairgrounds raceway and a BMX track, Farmer City is the site for a third racing venue that is one of the area's best-kept secrets, even to local residents.

The Illinois Collegiate Rowing Invitational held just outside of town draws college rowers from several states. The Illinois Rowing Association, a University of Illinois club team, sponsors the event.

Clinton Lake, located about 10 minutes southwest from downtown Farmer City, is the site of the invitational.

The rowing association also holds numerous practices there and recently held a high school invitational featuring primarily Chicago-area schools.

In terms of visibility, the event might as well be held on the Mississippi River.

Farmer City native Curt Homann, director of the DeWitt County Development Council, said he gets "tons of asks about the event."

People see the signs put up welcoming the rowers but have no idea where it is held.

"It's not visible," Homann said. "People don't see people in boats downtown. They say, 'I wish I'd known about it.'"

This year's invitational will be held Saturday. Because of limited parking spaces at the site, most vehicles are parked at Blue Ridge High School, and shuttle buses transport people to and from the lake.

For Boston resident Bill Grier, an Illinois grad, former rowing team head coach and still active with the rowing association, the site is ideal for the needs of the club.

This will mark the "seventh or eighth" year using the site located at the Parnell boat access location off Illinois Route 54, Grier said.

"The team has been around since 2005. We're coming up on our 20-year anniversary and really started being competitive for the last 10 years."

Grier said the team won its first individual championship in 2012.

Team numbers "typically oscillate between 60 and 70 in the fall when a lot of new freshmen try out, and that whittles down to between 40 and 50 in the spring," Grier said.

The best attribute to be a good rower, according to Grier: endurance. After that, strength and technique. Rowing is one of the top sports that requires excellent aerobic condition.

"We have both a men's and women's team. Each of those teams will have upwards of possibly 10 to 12 different events they race in with different-size boats and different numbers of athletes — all the way from a single up to an eight-person boat plus a ninth person, the coxswain, who is in charge of steering the boat and keeping everyone together."

In 2019, the invitational grew to 16 college teams from "eight or nine different states from as far west as Colorado and all over the Midwest," Grier said.

The COVID-19 pandemic knocked the numbers down for a couple of years, but they are starting to pick back up.

"Everybody on the team competes. That's one of the big draws" to be on the team, Grier said. "We have a dedicated freshman or novice category. A lot of times there's a JV category, and a varsity category in addition to all the different sizes. There are also different skill levels."

Lake practices take place in the spring and fall. Otherwise, hour-long workouts are held on rowing machines on campus.

In 2016, the city of Farmer City helped the rowing association financially with the infrastructure to establish a race course. Cables were anchored to the bottom of the lake onto which buoys to mark the course are hooked.

Charlie Montgomery, Clinton Lake site superintendent, said the rowing association has the site "set up pretty well now."

"There's a lot of schools that come out," he said. "They had it pretty well packed the last few times they've had it."

He said if the invitational continues to grow, the shoreline might have to be expanded.

One of the association's major goals is to build an indoor boat facility to store its boats and equipment during the winter.

Added Grier: "We've been working closely with Charlie as well as people at the Clinton power station. One of our big goals is to start community programs" to start a rec program to draw more people into rowing.

Homann said the invitational provides an economic boost to Farmer City, but merchants wish it could be greater.

"It's great to have a University of Illinois event in our county — just the positive publicity that brings to the community here," Homann said. "From a bigger, more-important standpoint, it's getting more people to come into the county and spend a few dollars here."

Holding a Farmer City-based event centered on the invitational has been discussed by the chamber of commerce, Homann said. The trick would be to induce those attending the invitational to stick around in town.