Martha's Moms

A former Olympic rower teaches highschool mothers oars de combat.

Martha Johnson Beattie '76 should have a bumper-sticker on her car that reads "Let me tell you about my mothers." Martha, who rowed for Dartmouth and for the U.S. in the 1980 Olympics, coaches a championship rowing team known as "Martha's Moms." She took on the team in 1984 when she was asked to coach a budding women's team one day a week. "These women had never done team sports, and they had never had a coach before," she says. "But they were eager and did what they needed to do." Martha was soon coaching 12 women, all mothers of students attending Seattle's Lakeside School, where Martha was a crew coach at the time. The team has grown to about 45 women aged 27 to 64 years, most of them mothers. Martha herself has three children aged one, three, and five.

Martha's Moms have already won fame. In 1989 a boat of four won the masters category at the Head of the Charles in Boston. In 1990 the same boat finished second. The masters boats with eight rowers have finished second at Canadian Nationals and fourth at U.S. Nationals. Because of their success the team was invited to participate in the Seatde Open Day race, a prestigious race at the University of Washington. Other competitors include teams from the Soviet Union, New Zealand, and China.

In addition to coaching, Martha is the president and sits on the board of directors of a preschool in Mercer Island. She is also on the board of directors of the Pocock Rowing Foundation and Olympic Training Center.

As for the future, Martha says that she will enter her teams in as many regattas as she can. "Rowing is a true sport for life," she says, "women of all ages can do this."

Martha Beattie (3rdfrom left) coaches family-style.