Shell crates arrive, grandstand construction begins at Nathan Benderson Park

The World Rowing Championships begin on Sept. 23 at Nathan Benderson Park, and things are kicking into high gear. 

Today, shipping crates carrying racing shells from Italy and Poland arrived at the park. They are the third and fourth countries to have their shells arrive, behind Great Britian and Australia. The crates themselves will not be opened for approximately another week, when countries arrive to begin their training. 

Also today, construction began on the 2,000-seat grandstand being erected at Benderson Park for the championships. 

To make the wait for the championships even harder, USRowing released its roster for the championships on Aug. 28. While there are no rowers from the East County or Sarasota areas on the roster, there are three rowers from the State of Florida: Ben Davison (Inverness) rowing in the Men's Double Scull; Ben Delaney (Windermere) rowing in the Men's Four; and Corinne Schoeller (Palm Beach) rowing in the Women's Eight, the crown jewel race of USRowing. The U.S. Women's Eight has won at every major competition (either the WRC or the Olympics) since 2004. 

The U.S. will have 24 states represented at the championships overall. 

To check out the full U.S. roster, head to USRowing.com.