Tomorrow, June 7th, marks the one year anniversary of the very first post on ExeterCrew.com. With the help, contributions and encouragement from countless past and present members of Exeter Crew, the site has come a long way. Originally envisioned as a small set of pages with basic information about the program, the site’s readership has grown and much more content has been added, including:

• Dozens of news articles detailing recent races and other Exeter Crew events.
• A comprehensive photo gallery with 1527 total photos from races and boat christenings (with full-res versions available).
• A fully functional discussion board.
• The team’s full schedule, complete boys and girls rosters, and a breakdown of race results for every boat over the entire season.
• Maps and other information about each racecourse on which the teams race.
• A collection of video clips taken at races.
• A history of the Academy’s crew program.
• Biographies for the varsity and junior varsity coaches.
• A detailed list of the 2604 varsity letter recipients since 1923.
• An overview of facilities at the Saltonstall Boathouse.
• “The Whiz Kids,” a recollection by Jack Bissell ’58.

Looking to the future, it would be great to get more user interaction with the website–especially on the forum. For example, anyone rowing over the summer or planning on going to Canadian Henley should post a reply. If you have any photos or videos from Exeter Crew events, make a new thread and post a link so it can be added to the site’s galleries. Any suggestions or comments about the site are best posted on the feedback discussion board.

In addition to contributing content to the site, make sure to tell any of your friends who were part of the program about ExeterCrew.com. The vast majority of the site’s exposure is from word-of-mouth.

On a personal note, I am very happy with the site’s success, and want to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who has visited it regularly. Seeing the site’s traffic grow from a few dozen to a few hundred hits a day has kept me motivated.

This week, expect a news article about the boys and girls eights headed to the USRowing Youth National Championships outside of Cincinnati, Ohio next Saturday, June 14th. In the meantime, Happy Birthday ExeterCrew.com!