Kirkland man, UW rowing team win national title

It was one of the biggest moments of Kit Culbert’s life, and he wasn’t quite sure what had happened. The Kirkland native and University of Washington rower knew his varsity four boat was close to a national title, but that was about it.

June 30, 2008 6:58 pm
The University of Washington varsity four group receives their medals and holds the championship trophy after narrowly beating Marist College of New York to take the national title. The race was at Cherry Hill
The University of Washington varsity four group receives their medals and holds the championship trophy after narrowly beating Marist College of New York to take the national title. The race was at Cherry Hill

It was one of the biggest moments of Kit Culbert’s life, and he wasn’t quite sure what had happened. The Kirkland native and University of Washington rower knew his varsity four boat was close to a national title, but that was about it.

“I didn’t know when we crossed the line if we won or not,” said Culbert, who was hard into his final strokes and missed seeing the finish. “The rest of the boat was celebrating, but I wasn’t so sure.”

Turns out what Culbert didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him — at least in an agony-of-defeat sense. His boat did win, but just barely, with the Huskies edging Marist College of New York by less than a second in the 2,000-meter race at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships Championships at Cherry Hill, N.J., on June 7. The IRA is the oldest and largest crew championship in the country, featuring 184 teams from 51 colleges.

“It was very gratifying,” said Culbert, who called the race “good” and the win “great.” The others on his boat who can call themselves national champions: “coxswain” Leah Downey, “stroke” Stephen Connolly, “three” Dane Robbins and “bow” David VanBolt.

Born in London, U.K., Culbert moved to Kirkland around the age of two, attended the International Community School here and started rowing in eighth grade at the Sammamish Rowing Association, where he spent four years.

That Culbert would attend the University of Washington was never in much doubt. Both of his parents, a sister and an uncle all went to the school.

“There was no question. It was the only place I applied for,” Culbert said. “I’ve been watching rowing there for longer than I’ve been rowing myself.”

An English major, he rowed with the freshman eight boat his first year at the UW before moving to the varsity four boat this season. The difference between the two boats is subtle, he said: While the varsity eight is the race “people come to watch,” the varsity four race takes a certain degree of control and awareness not found in other races.

Culbert’s crew team practices eight times a week in the spring and, while crew practices are notorious for being an early morning affair, the 6 a.m. start times don’t bother Culbert.

In fact, 6 a.m. is a breeze compared to some of the summer work he’s done in the past. While working summers at Baywatch Seafoods in Naknek, Alaska, Culbert would often work 16-hour shifts at all sorts of odd hours. Aside from the usual duties of gutting fish, maintaining freezers and building custom fish pumps, Culbert’s favorite memory in Naknek was scavenging for beluga whale carcasses. While flying around in a small, four-seat plane with his boss, Culbert spotted a carcass on the beach. They landed and proceeded to “take a chainsaw to the carcass” and later “brought the head home,” he said.

This summer, Culbert has a new summer job that comes with his success in the boat: Training. He’ll spend the season at the Riverside Boat Club in Boston where he’ll row in various competitions before returning to school in August.