Nice Story--Amended

[guido911]

As first reported by the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia (Pa.) Episcopal Academy rowers James Konopka and Nick Mead made the ultimate sacrifice during their Under-17 doubles race at the Head of the Schuykill regatta on Sunday when they abandoned a promising start to help rescue two fellow competitors who had capsized.

With temperatures unseasonably cold and Philadelphia (Pa.) St. Joseph's Prep rowers Joe Leonard and Andrew Burrichter struggling with their boat and treading water in the icy river, Konopka and Mead made a snap decision to give up a promising start that could have landed them in the medals to help get the fellow high school rowers to safety, waiting with them until a safety launch arrived to get the St. Joseph's pair out of the frigid water.

   "They had flipped," Konopka, a 16-year-old sophomore, said yesterday. "Nick said we should probably go back [to help them] and I agreed, so we turned around."

   "They were yelling 'help' and one of the kids didn't appear as if he could swim too well," said Mead, a 16-year-old junior. "The water was cold and I'm sure their limbs were going numb."

Considering the fact that the high temperature in the Philadelphia area on Sunday was only around 45 degrees, Mead's concern about his competitor's condition was almost certainly correct.

For most teens, that good samaritan act would have been more than enough work for one day. That wasn't the case with Konopka and Mead, who insisted on turning back around and completing the race.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Teen-rowers-give-up-medal-dreams-to-help-capsize?urn=highschool-wp7953

Here's another:
http://www.godvine.com/Injury-Turns-into-Inspiration-for-One-High-School-Girl-323.html

We can learn a lot from our children.

[Conan71]

Good story and great lesson in placing someone else ahead of yourself, but they could have easily wound up with four rowers in the water rather than two as rowing shells are very unstable.  

Believe it or not, the two who went to help actually went against common wisdom for rowing.  If you got someone pretty panicked and in the water, they could have easily pulled the second craft over.  All the crew of the capsized needed to do was stay on their shell until a launch (motorboat) arrived to help with their plight.  I know that sounds cold-hearted but you have to consider what actually winds up putting more people in danger.  There's literally nothing the two boys in the upright double could have done to help the two in the water without winding up in the water themselves.

[Laramie]

GOOD STUFF!