Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors Holding A Row-A-Thon Saturday

The Tulsa Rowing Club will be trying to make it across a pretty big pond this summer. The Henley Royal Regatta in the United Kingdom is almost 175 years old, and some young Tulsa rowers are trying to be the first Oklahoma high schoolers to make it there.

The Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors have grown to about five times the size they were 10 years ago.

The club is holding a Row-A-Thon Saturday to try and make it the Super Bowl of Rowing.

Neil Bergenroth came to Tulsa from England about ten years ago. He coaches the Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors, but when he got here, it wasn't much to speak of.

"At that time, the rowing club was ten athletes and they practiced three days a week. And now we're fifty athletes, and we practice five, six days a week," Neil Bergenroth said.

There are guys and girls who row, from eighth grade to seniors in high school. Being a world class athlete does help, but it's not the rule.

Alex Mears has been rowing for three years.

"Well, in eighth grade, I started playing football and it didn't really work for me. So my brother started rowing and the day after, I started. And I've been rowing ever since," said Alex Mears.

Brock Turner is 19 years old. He's a former club member and world record holder.

Last year, he rowed for seventeen hours in a row. He's also contacted Guinness World Records, for when he tries to set the record for kilometers in a 24 hour period.

"With rowing, you can always get faster. Because it's a race, there's not help, that's as good as I can get. You can always shave seconds off or milliseconds off," said Brock Turner.

The Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors have big plans for this summer.

They need to raise $30,000 to become the first high school club team from Oklahoma to compete in the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in England.

"It's for me a special place in my heart to be able to bring these guys to something that I enjoyed as a high-schooler. Something that I remember and hold dear," said Neil Bergenroth.

"Yeah, that's an once-in-a-lifetime experience to go row in England. That would be awesome," John Seely said, "I didn't if that would be possible to do that in this town, and now I believe that it is possible. And so we're going for it. And why not."

Their fundraiser is Saturday. The Row-A-Thon 2012 starts at 7 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m. on the Arkansas River, near the 21st Street bridge in Tulsa.

For more information on the club, you can follow them on Twitter @TulsaRCJuniors or email Coach Neil Bergenroth at coachb@tulsarowing.org.