Over the past weekend, gondoliers from Coronado competed in the U.S. Gondola Nationals in Huntington Harbor. Eric “Enrico” Bender and Matt “Mateo” Erickson from The Gondola Company in Coronado competed in all four events and brought home seven medals.
Enrico and Mateo placed first in the tandem sprint and first in the tandem distance race. Mateo also placed first in the solo sprint. Enrico placed second in the solo sprint and the solo distance race.
Gondoliers from across the country put their skills to the test this weekend at the second annual U.S. Gondola Nationals in Huntington Harbor, California. Teams came from Rhode Island, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Long Beach, Sunset Beach, Newport Beach, and San Diego to compete. It was the largest Venetian rowing event in U.S. history, and the largest congregation of gondoliers in one place ever, outside of Venice, Italy.
This weekend’s national competition was a follow-up to the inaugural event held in Providence, Rhode Island in 2012 under the name GondOlympics.
For more information about the U.S Gondola Nationals, visit usgondolanationals.weebly.com/index.html
For information about The Gondola Company in Coronado visit www.gondolacompany.com
