Q&A with Women's Rowing Alumna Maggie Fellows '13

"Don't give up on your dreams when you face a setback," said St. Lawrence women's rowing alumna Maggie Fellows '13, as she offered advice to current and future St. Lawrence students in our Q&A session. 

Last February, Fellows was prepared to head to Sarasota, Florida, to race in the US Olympic Trials when COVID-19 shut down the trials. This week, the former All-America for the Saints is back in Sarasota, racing for a spot on the US Olympic Team. Just this morning, she placed seventh out of 35 athletes in a time trial to earn her a spot in Tuesday's heats. She will race against three other rowers; the top finisher will advance to the semifinal round, while the remainder will move to the repachages.

Find out more about Fellows journey post graduation, her rowing experiences, training and how she's coped with the pandemic in the Q&A below. 

If you would like to check on Fellows progress throughout the trials, you can find results, news stories, photos and live stream (for the semifinals and finals) here, live results here, and you can also follow her on Instagram (magf1) for occasional updates. 

February 25, 2021 Update - Fellows placed placed second in the women's 1x this morning to advance to tomorrow's finals. 

Q&A with Maggie Fellows '13 - 

What did you do after graduating from St. Lawrence?

After I graduated from St. Lawrence, I moved to Craftsbury, Vermont, to row full time for the Green Racing Project. 

Tell me about your rowing experiences post-graduation. Where have you been, and where have you competed?

For the first three years after St. Lawrence, I was a sponsored athlete at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. I learned to scull at Craftsbury and started to figure out what it would take to make it as an elite athlete. (Sculling is rowing when each person in the boat has two oars. In sweep rowing, what the SLU Crew team does, each person in the boat only has one oar and rotates out to a side of the boat each stroke.) The summer after I graduated was the first summer that I raced at Under 23 trials to make the US National Team. I finished second in the pair and missed out on a spot on the team in my last year of U23 eligibility. After that I was/am going for the Senior National Team. In 2016, I raced the women's single (1x) at Olympic Trials. That was a defining moment in my rowing career because I failed badly and finished near the back of the pack. I took a brief period of time off to reassess my future in the sport and decide if I wanted to continue after such an abysmal showing. Deep down my answer was a resounding yes. I knew that I could do better and that I wanted another chance to be an Olympian so I committed myself to another four-year cycle. I subsequently left Craftsbury to train on my own for a year and took a coaching position at Northfield Mount Hermon School.  After that transition year in Massachusetts, I moved cross-country to Long Beach, California, and joined SoCal Scullers. 

In 2018, after being cut from US National Team 4x (quadruple sculls) camp selection I teamed up with Julia Lonchar and raced in the Pan American Team Trials in the 2x (double sculls) and we won, earning the right to represent the US at the Pan American Qualification Regatta later that year. In order to send a boat from the country in each event the US has to first qualify the boat class at a qualification event for the Pan American Games and at the prior year World Championships for the Olympics. In Rio de Janeiro, Julia and I finished fourth in the 2x to qualify our boat for the Pan Am Games and fifth in the 4x to also qualify that boat. In 2019, we raced in Lima, Peru, at the Pan American Games and came away with silver in the 2x and bronze in the 4x. After that I returned to training in the 1x in California and prepared to race at the 2020 Olympic Trials in early March. Shortly after I had arrived in Florida to race, COVID-19 took the country by storm and racing was canceled. 

I traveled north with my boat to find a safe place to train closer to home in the hopes of racing later in the year. I stayed with my uncle in New Jersey for a few weeks and wet launched at a nearby reservoir to continue training as boathouses across the country closed down, stay at home orders went into effect and the Olympics themselves were postponed. Then, a few days later as I went to the reservoir with my boat on top of my car to train I found the reservoir closed to the public per the Governor's new coronavirus mandates. I packed up and drove north to my parent's house in Massachusetts where I was able to continue training by myself by rowing on rural unrestricted bodies of water. Later in the summer as boathouses started to open with COVID management protocols in place I started training with a group in Boston on the Charles River and then in the fall moved there to work with the group. After the Charles froze this winter we migrated to Austin, Texas, to train for a few months before heading to Florida for rescheduled Olympic Trials. Racing starts on Monday (Feb. 22) and I am very excited!  

What is your favorite aspect of rowing?

I love it when the boat gets up to speed and everything just seems to flow. The oars lightly splash into the water, the legs press, the body opens, and the hull shoots over the water. It's a magical feeling when it all clicks like that. In team boats, the effect is magnified when the crew is in perfect unison.

How has your training for rowing helped you develop resiliency and cope with pandemic?

Rowing is not easy. The motion may seem simple, but it takes years to master the finer details and the physical aspect of the sport is very demanding.  I think part of what draws me to it is the challenge. No one ever said that it would be easy to train and become an Olympian. I want to be the best that I can be and I believe that the best I can be is one of the best in the world. This overarching long-term goal has kept me grounded during the pandemic and the uncertainty that came with it. I was very fortunate to be able to continue training even though I was alone. I was safe and healthy with my family so I was able to adapt to the circumstances and use the extra year to get faster.  

Also, in elite training there is often a lot of uncertainty. Financially making ends meet can be a huge challenge as there is little funding in rowing. In order to continue training, I've had many challenges that I've had to overcome and find a way to make it work because this is what I want to be doing. I've become comfortable with not knowing what the future holds and being ready to jump on whatever opportunities arise. There are so many people who have contributed to my journey and I am very grateful for all the support I have received. 

What changes have you made to your training due to the pandemic?

A lot of my training this past year has been in the 1x as opposed to team boats due to the pandemic. The single was the one boat that was safe to row for a while since no one can get within 6' of you in the boat. Also, having my own boat I was able to row all year even when almost all boathouses in the country were closed. I also used the erg, but unlike many others I could continue on the water too. Because of the pandemic, I moved back to the east coast and joined in with my current training group. I did not intend to make this move when I left California for Olympic Trials in March 2020, but it has turned out to be an incredible opportunity. 

How did you cope with the shutdown just before trials last year?

I was already in Florida when trials were cancelled and I had my boat so I could not easily return to California. As soon as racing was cancelled, I went back into training mode from my pre-race taper in the hope that racing would be postponed and not cancelled. There was a lot of uncertainty over what would happen with the Olympics and racing in general. Nobody knew what the timeline for shutdowns would look like. I stayed focused on what I could control, which was to stay fit and put myself in the best possible position physically and mentally to race if/when it would happen. It has been a year, but I feel like I have succeeded in that goal and I am in a better position to go fast this year that I was in 2020. 

How do you foster good mental health and work through elevated anxiety that may occur around the Olympic Trials?

Staying focused on the present moment and keeping perspective is really helpful.  

What can the Laurentian community do to help you and can you tell us how we can watch and cheer you on?

Here is a link to the US Rowing media page. Results, news stories, photos, etc. can be found here, as well as information on the live stream for the semi-finals and finals at the end of the week. Live results can also be found here.

You can find me on Instagram at @magf1 for occasional updates.

If anyone is looking to contribute financially, donations can be made to the Boston Rowing Federation. Without this support, I would have really struggled to make ends meet while training this past year. The BRF supports several athletes in the Boston area and provides critical resources for those of us mostly outside of the National Training Center (The Training Center selects the 8+ and other big boats and is where most of the resources from US Rowing and the National Rowing Foundation are focused). More information regarding supporting the BRF can be found here.