Oak Ridge Today

Explore Oak Ridge to co-locate with Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce

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Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce building is pictured above.

 

Explore Oak Ridge (the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau) will be moving its operations from its current location at 102 Robertsville Road to co-locate with the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce in July, according to an agreement reached by the two organizations earlier this week.

The Chamber building is located at 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike, near Oak Ridge High School and across from the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

The initial lease is for three years, with two additional one-year extension options. It will position the Chamber, Explore Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, and the Roane State Tennessee Small Business Development Center in one facility, a press release said. [Read more…]

Rowing championship, largest in SIRA history, is in Oak Ridge this weekend

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SIRA 2015 2

Crews passing the crowded Melton Lake Park peninsula. (Photo credit: Rob Welton)

 

By Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau

Few partnerships have stood the test of time quite like that of the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) and Oak Ridge. For almost 30 years, SIRA has been holding their championship in Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge and its beloved rowing venue have been attracting rowers since the late 1970s with its calm, flat water. SIRA rowers were among the first to compete in Oak Ridge back in the 1980s. Today, the regatta attracts more than 50 collegiate men’s and women’s rowing teams to Oak Ridge. In fact, the 2016 regatta will be the largest in SIRA history with 61 teams participating.

While SIRA offers races in many different boat categories, all eyes will be on the Men’s Eight race. Perennial men’s powerhouse teams (such as University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and Purdue University) will battle for SIRA’s ultimate prize—Men’s Eight Gold.

“The men’s eight final promises to be a brutal slug-fest; there are no clear favorites at this point,” said Marc DeRose, Explore Oak Ridge director and veteran rowing coach. “I also expect the heats to be just as competitive.” [Read more…]

City officials meet with NPS, DOE, other communities to discuss Manhattan Project park

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Chuck Hope

Chuck Hope

A delegation from the City of Oak Ridge recently traveled to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to participate in a meeting with officials from the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, and from Los Alamos and the Hanford communities to discuss the newly designated Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The meeting was sponsored by the Energy Communities Alliance, or ECA, which supported attendance at the meeting with travel grants to the participants.

The three-day event, with more than 50 in attendance, began with a tour of the cultural resources and Manhattan Project era sites at Los Alamos National Laboratory. David Klaus, deputy under secretary of management and performance with DOE, was the keynote speaker. He emphasized the importance of preserving the history of the Manhattan Project, and pointed to the important scientific and technological advancements that originated from that era.

Victor Knox, associate director for park planning, facilities, and lands for the National Park Service, then briefed attendees on the status of a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, currently under development by DOE and NPS. The draft MOA, which has been released for public comment, will govern the respective roles of the secretary of interior and secretary of energy in administering the park and its facilities. Completion of the MOA is the first major milestone required by the enacting legislation, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last December. [Read more…]

Local rower finishes 6th in nation at USRowing National Championships

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Sarah Kate Rogers at USRowing Nationals

Sarah Kate Rogers sprints to a second-place finish in the final 250 meters of the Women’s Youth 1x Semifinal at the 2015 USRowing Southeastern Youth Championships. (Photo courtesy J. Rogers)

 

By Jim Rogers

Oak Ridge’s Sarah Kate Rogers continued her memorable run to USRowing’s 2015 Youth Nationals, overcoming windy course conditions and formidable talent to reach the Grand Final of the Women’s Youth sculling singles (WY1x). The Youth Nationals were held June 12-14, in Bradenton, Florida.

Rogers qualified for the Youth Nationals as a result of her victory in the USRowing Southeastern Regionals in May.

Her path to the National Grand Finals was not without significant drama. In her opening heat, she tangled with lane buoys early in the race, and despite a ferocious comeback, finished a narrow fourth. This forced her to the repechage, a last chance to qualify for the semifinals. She responded to that challenge, moving through her opponents to grab the lead at the halfway point and holding off a furious challenge from Rachel Pierce of South Jersey Rowing Club. On short rest, Rogers then out-sprinted Shelby Johnson of Capital Rowing Club in the semifinal to finish second and qualify for the Grand Final. [Read more…]

Record crowds: Secret City Festival was ‘tremendous success’

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Secret City Festival Concert 2015

A concert crowd at the 2015 Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Robert Welton)

 

The 2015 Oak Ridge Secret City Festival drew record attendance, despite the heat, organizers said. Concerts by the Marshall Tucker Band and Three Dog Night attracted the highest number of spectators in festival history.

“We were ecstatic with the turnout for both concerts,” says, Marc DeRose, executive director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We knew the bands would be popular but didn’t expect to see quite so many people. It was outstanding!”

Attendances for The Marshall Tucker Band and Three Dog Night were more than 2,200 and more than 3,500, respectively. The previous record was 2,300 for the Rick Springfield concert in 2013.

“After seeing how many tickets were sold at the gate for Friday’s Marshall Tucker concert, we decided to move the concert fences back to accommodate the expected additional 1,000-plus spectators for Three Dog Night,” DeRose said. [Read more…]

Local rower earns invitation to USRowing Youth National Championships

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Sarah Kate Rogers and Marc DeRose

Rower Sarah Kate Rogers, who has been invited to compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships in June, is pictured above with coach Marc DeRose. (Photo by Suzanne Rogers)

 

By James H. Rogers

Oak Ridge’s Sarah Kate Rogers has earned an invitation to compete in the USRowing Youth National Championships by virtue of her first-place finish in the women’s youth sculling singles (WY1x) at the USRowing Southeast Youth Championships earlier this month. Competing against other young women from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, she swept through the heats and won the 2,000-meter final in a time of 8:26.257, more than eight seconds ahead of any other sculler.

At next month’s national championship, which is from June 12-14 in Bradenton, Florida, Rogers will compete against as many as 27 other scullers through both heats and repechage for a coveted spot in the grand finals.

“The competition is incredibly tough,” Rogers said of the national event. “We all train and work as hard as we can to get to this point, and leave nothing on race day.”

Her competitors qualify from 11 separate national regions, and represent powerhouse rowing programs from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southwest, Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. Rogers is unique in this regard, rowing as an unaffiliated rower under the watchful eyes of her coaching team, Shannon Moore and Marc DeRose. [Read more…]

State grant of $250K will help build eighth lane at Oak Ridge rowing course

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Oak Ridge Rowing Lane Announcement

Tennessee Rep. John Ragan, an Oak Ridge Republican, announces a $250,000 state grant for an eighth lane at the Oak Ridge rowing course on Sunday. Also pictured from left are Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, Sen. Randy McNally, Anderson County Chamber of Commerce President Rick Meredith, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau President Marc DeRose, Oak Ridge City Council member Rick Chinn, and Oak Ridge Rowing Association President Russell Byrd.

 

A $250,000 state grant announced Sunday will be used to help build an eighth lane at the Oak Ridge rowing course. And that’s expected to significantly increase the economic impact of rowing races, or regattas, officials said.

The eighth lane has been on the city’s wish list for years, and it will allow the Oak Ridge Rowing Association to compete for bigger races and international regattas and provide more on-water capacity, allowing more competitors in events like this weekend’s SIRA Regatta.

According to rough estimates, the eighth lane could cost about $350,000 total, said Oak Ridge City Council member Rick Chinn, the father of two former rowers and a rower himself. That means the City of Oak Ridge might have to contribute up to $100,000 to complete the project.

Tennessee Representative John Ragan, the Oak Ridge Republican who spearheaded the effort to get state funding, said the regional impact of the regattas in Oak Ridge is estimated at $13 million now, but it could increase to $33 million, according to a University of Tennessee study. [Read more…]

Former Oak Ridge rowing director could lead ORCVB

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Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose

Note: This story was updated at 5:55 p.m.

A former Oak Ridge rowing director could become the next executive director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The ORCVB board of directors on Thursday voted 4-3 to offer the job to Marc A. DeRose, subject to reference checks. If hired, DeRose will replace former longtime director Katy Brown, who became ORCVB president in 2006 and left in July to take a new marketing and promotions job covering Knoxville and Chattanooga.

DeRose was hired by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association in August 2013, and he resigned from his head coach and rowing director position in May of this year, saying the job was “not the right fit for me and my family,” the ORRA said in a press release this spring.

Other candidates for the ORCVB job, which offers a starting salary of $45,000 per year, were Lila Wilson, director of special events for the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend, and Naomi Asher, executive director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. ORCVB board members said Asher withdrew her application, saying she wanted to continue working for CASA.

Wilson received three votes on Thursday, picking up one less than DeRose’s four. [Read more…]

New rowing coach resigns

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Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose

The head coach hired in August has resigned from the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

Coach Marc DeRose, who was also rowing director, has concluded that this was “not the right fit for me and my family,” a Friday afternoon press release said.

The release said a team of veteran ORRA leaders has moved into new roles within the organization. The new team management approach started after the resignation of DeRose, who replaced longtime head coach Allen Eubanks late last summer.

“We wish Marc and his family all the luck in the world,” ORRA President Terry Holley said. “We’re fortunate to have so many outstanding individuals ready to step in and make sure we don’t skip a beat. We may be nearing the end of the season, but we have no doubt we will finish strong.”

In the meantime, the work is being divided into four distinct areas, each with a key person in charge, the release said, “someone everyone involved with ORRA knows and respects. The four areas and those in charge are: [Read more…]

New coach hired at Oak Ridge Rowing Association

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Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose has been hired as the new head coach and director of rowing at the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

“We were absolutely blown away by the quality of the applicants,” said ORRA President Bob Franks. “Even with such great applicants, Marc was clearly the person for the job.”

DeRose comes to Oak Ridge from the University of Central Florida, where he has served as assistant coach of women’s rowing. His resume includes coaching the 2011 Canadian National Champion in men’s eight at St. George’s School in Vancouver, British Columbia. [Read more…]