Iraqis Row To New Beginnings In Cambridge

02:40

October 18, 2010

Iraqi rowers Hamzah Alhilfi, left, Ahmed Haily, Ahmed Zaidan, and Mohammed Aljuboori, practice Sept. 28, 2010, on Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J. (AP)

Bruce Smith, executive director of Community Rowing Inc. in Brighton, Mass., and a U.S. Rowing coach, traveled to Iraq last May to observe the national Iraqi rowing team. His hope: to bring the team to a world stage. Now, Bruce and a team of supporters have made that dream a reality. Six Iraqi rowers, a coach and a manager from the Iraq team recently traveled to Boston to train on the Charles River for the Asian Games in China, slated to take place in November.

Over the weekend, the Iraqi rowers took time to conduct an exhibition along the Charles, where they taught novices about the techniques and cooperative spirit of rowing. Their students for the day? U.S veterans recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

More:

Radio Boston interviews Bruce Smith after his first trip to Iraq
Community Rowing, Inc.

This program aired on October 18, 2010.