By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Not long after sunrise on the Saugatuck River the other day, the Survive-OARS rowing team training for tomorrow’s Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston came off the water with praise from their coxswain, Alison Reilly.

“That last piece was beautiful,” Reilly told the team, referring to their final stretch of rowing, as they pulled up to the dock at the Saugatuck Rowing Club and Fitness Center. “That’s what I want you to think about when you close your eyes tonight.”

The eight women and an alternate, wearing pink tops, are not just rowers. They are all breast cancer survivors.

“Six days a week for the past three months, these women have been training for one of the most prestigious regattas in the world,” said Diana Kruen, who founded the team eight years ago. “Their determination is nothing short of extraordinary.”

They make up one of two teams of cancer survivors based at the club heading for the prestigious racing event. A team of four men who call themselves SURVIFOUR, formed just months ago, also will compete. Weston resident Mike Nestor, 54, started the team not long after finishing cancer treatment several months ago.

The Survive-OARS began in 2018 when Norwalk Hospital’s Smilow Breast Cancer Center asked Kruen if she would help teach rowing to breast cancer survivors to support their recovery with exercise. The team has been competing in the Head of the Charles ever since.

Team member Holly Sexton, 60, has rowed in it every year.

“Racing helped with my recovery and I’ve never been stronger,” said the Wilton resident, who is managing director of Deloitte.

It’s more than the exercise that keeps them coming. It’s also the camaraderie. 

“I’ve never met a greater group of people,” said Easton resident Lisa Norat. She’ll be rowing in the Head of the Charles for the third year in a row. When she first came to check out the team, she had a positive feeling upon meeting Kruen.

“She was lovely from minute one,” she said. “It was incredibly welcoming.”

Kruen described the team as a different kind of support group, one centered around a rigorous sport.

“We like to say, the moment you walk through the door, you’re no longer a survivor; you’re an athlete,” she said.

The SURVIFOUR team members have been getting ready for tomorrow’s race by practicing twice a week at 5:30 a.m., as much as they can, Nestor said. Nestor is the  global healthcare advisory leader for a fortune 50 company and the husband of Weston First Selectwoman Sam Nestor, who is currently running for a seat in the state senate.

Last weekend, the team members put their ability to the test. 

“We rowed the Head of the Housatonic to prepare and make sure we were physically capable,” he said, adding that they were happy with the way they handled the 2.7-mile race. “We didn’t come in last, so we were thrilled with that,” he said.

He’s confident they will not come in last in tomorrow’s race in Boston, either, although he is not expecting to be in the top half of the winner’s list.

There’s another benefit to rowing, beyond exercise and friendship, rowers said. It’s the opportunity to appreciate nature first thing in the morning. After the recent practice, when the women rowed down the Saugatuck toward Long Island Sound and back, Norat said being on the water at dawn was enchanting.

“The sunrise this morning was this incredible orange ball,” she said. Looking at it, she said, “you just think, ‘I own the world.’”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}